Historic  Shrines  of  America 

BY     JOHN     T.      PARIS 


Photo  by  Ph.B.  Wallace 


INDEPENDENCE   HALL,   REAR  VIEW,   PHILADELPHIA 


HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF 
AMERICA 

BEING  THE  STORY  OF  ONE  HUNDRED 

AND   TWENTY  HISTORIC    BUILDINGS 

AND     THE     PIONEERS     WHO     MADE 

THEM    NOTABLE 

BY 

JOHN  T.  FARIS 

Member  of  the  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  and  Fellow  of  the 

American  Geographical  Society 

Author  of  "  Real  Stories  from  Our  History,"  "  Old  Roads 
Out  of  Philadelphia,"  etc. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  StSJT  YORK 
GEORGE  H.  DORAN  COMPANY 


Copyright^  1918, 
By  George  H.  Doran  Company 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


FOREWORD 

CIRCULAR  tours  have  long  been  popular  in  Eng 
land.  There  was  a  time — as  there  will  be  a  time 
again — when  American  visitors  felt  that  to  make  the 
rounds  of  the  cathedral  towns  or  the  historic  castles  or 
the  homes  and  haunts  of  great  men  and  women,  was  a 
necessary  part  of  seeing  the  tight  little  island. 

"  What  a  pity  it  is  that  we  in  America  have  no  such 
wealth  of  historic  places,"  one  returning  tourist  was 
heard  to  remark.  "  Oh,  of  course,  there  are  a  few  spots 
like  Independence  Hall  and  Concord  and  Lexington,"  he 
went  on,  "  but  there  are  not  enough  of  them  to  make  it 
worth  while  to  plan  a  tour  such  as  those  in  which  we 
have  taken  delight  in  England." 

It  was  easy  to  point  out  to  the  traveler  his  mis 
take;  most  Americans  know  that  the  country  is  rich 
in  places  of  historic  interest.  Just  how  rich  it  is  they 
may  not  realize  until  they  make  a  serious  study  of  the 
landmarks  of  their  own  land,  as  does  the  European 
tourist  of  the  centers  noted  in  his  guidebook. 

In  fact,  there  are  in  America  so  many  houses, 
churches,  and  other  buildings  having  a  vital  connection 
with  our  history  that  volumes  would  be  required  to  tell 
of  them  all.  Even  a  brief  record  of  the  buildings 
whose  owners  or  occupants  played  a  conspicuous  part 
in  the  early  history  of  the  country  would  fill  a  large 
book. 

It  is  fascinating  to  learn  of  these  houses  and  public 
buildings  and  to  delve  into  the  biographies  which  tell 


vi  FOREWORD 

what  happened  to  the  people  who  lived  in  them.  Fic 
tion  seems  tame  after  connecting,  for  instance,  the 
story  of  Alexander  Hamilton  and  Elizabeth  Schuyler 
with  the  Ford  Mansion  and  the  Campfield  House  at 
Morristown,  New  Jersey,  then  with  the  Schuyler  Man 
sion  in  Albany,  New  York,  and  The  Grange  in  New 
York  City.  The  heart  of  the  patriot  burns  with  new 
love  for  his  country  as  he  reads  of  Faneuil  Hall  and 
the  Old  South  Church  and  Carpenters'  Hall.  The  story 
of  the  Revolution  is  clothed  with  living  interest  when 
Washington  and  his  generals  are  followed  to  Valley 
Forge  and  Newburgh  and  Cambridge  and  Morristown 
and  Princeton.  Fresh  appreciation  of  the  sacrifice  of 
the  pioneers  comes  from  going  with  them  into  the  gar 
rison  houses  of  New  England,  along  the  Wilderness 
Road  in  Kentucky,  to  the  settlements  on  the  Ohio,  or 
to  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  where  more  than  one  Indian 
treaty  was  made. 

Next  comes  the  keen  pleasure  of  visiting  the  houses 
and  churches  which,  through  the  piecing  together  of 
these  facts,  have  become  like  familiar  friends.  The  vaca 
tion  journey  that  includes  a  careful  study  of  a  few  of 
these  buildings  becomes  a  fascinating  course  in 
patriotism. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  author  of  "  Historic  Shrines 
of  America  "  to  tell  just  enough  about  each  of  one  hun 
dred  and  twenty  of  these  buildings  of  historic  interest  to 
create  a  hunger  for  more ;  to  present  pictures  sufficiently 
attractive  to  make  those  who  turn  the  pages  of  the 
book  determine  to  visit  the  places  described ;  to  arrange 
the  brief  chapters  in  such  sequence  that  it  will  be  pos 
sible  for  the  reader  to  plan  for  successive  vacations  a 
series  of  journeys  through  the  centers  where  historic 


FOREWORD  vii 

buildings  may  be  found,  and,  in  doing  this,  to  pass  by 
so  many  structures  of  interest  that  the  reader  and  the 
tourist  will  have  abundant  opportunity  to  discover 
houses  and  churches  of  which  he  will  say,  "  I  wonder 
why  this  was  not  included." 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

ONE:  IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS 

I    THE  OLD  STATE  HOUSE,  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS     .  19 

II    PAUL  REVERE'S  HOUSE,  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS    .  23 

III  FANEUIL  HALL,  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS  ...  28 

IV  THREE  HISTORIC  CHURCHES  OF  BOSTON       ...  32 
V    ELMWOOD,    CAMBRIDGE,   MASSACHUSETTS    ...  36 

VI    THE  CRAIGIE  HOUSE,  CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS  .  40 

VII    THE  ADAMS  HOUSES,  QUINCY,  MASSACHUSETTS  .     .  44 

VIII    THE  QUINCY  MANSION,  QUINCY,  MASSACHUSETTS     .  49 

IX    FERNSIDE  FARM,  HAVERHILL,  MASSACHUSETTS  .       .  54 

X    THE  DUSTON  GARRISON  HOUSE,  HAVERHILL,  MASSA 
CHUSETTS        56 

XI    THE    OLD    MANSE    AND    THE    WAYSIDE,    CONCORD, 

MASSACHUSETTS 61 

XII    THE  ROYALL  HOUSE,  MEDFORD,  MASSACHUSETTS      .       66 

XIII  BROADHEARTH  AND  THE  BENNET-BOARDMAN  HOUSE, 

SAUGUS,  MASSACHUSETTS 69 

XIV  THE  COLONEL  JEREMIAH  LEE  HOUSE,  MARBLEHEAD, 

MASSACHUSETTS 72 

XV    THE  OLD  SOUTH  CHURCH,  NEWBURYPORT,  MASSACHU 
SETTS       75 

XVI    THE  FIRST  BAPTIST  CHURCH,  PROVIDENCE,  RHODE 

ISLAND 80 

TWO:  WHERE  PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS 
FLOURISHED 

XVII    THE  MORRIS-JUMEL  MANSION,  NEW  YORK  CITY      .       87 

XVIII    THE  PHILIPSE  MANOR  HOUSE,  YONKERS,  NEW  YORK     91 

iz 


x  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIX  ST.  PAUL'S  CHAPEL,  NEW  YOBK  CITY  ....  95 

XX  FRAUNCES'  TAVERN,  NEW  YORK  CITY  ....  97 

XXI  THE  GRANGE,  NEW  YORK  CITY 100 

XXII  THE  VAN  CORTLANDT  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK  CITY  .       .  104 

XXIII  THE  HASBROUCK  HOUSE,  NEWBUBGH,  NEW  YORK      .  106 

THREE:  ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  THE  PATRIOTS 

XXIV  THE  FRANKLIN  PALACE,  PERTH  AMBOY,  NEW  JERSEY    115 

XXV  THE  CHURCH  AT  CALDWELL,  NEW  JERSEY  .       .      .119 

XXVI  OLD  TENNENT  CHURCH,  FREEHOLD,  NEW  JERSEY       .     122 

XXVII  THE  FORD  MANSION,  MORRISTOWN,  NEW  JERSEY     .     126 

XXVIII  NASSAU  HALL,  PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY    .             .     130 

XXIX  THREE  HISTORIC  HOUSES  AT  PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY    134 

XXX  THE  SPRINGFIELD  MEETING  HOUSE,  NEW  JERSEY     .     138 

FOUR:  RAMBLES  ABOUT  THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE 

XXXI    THE  LETITIA  PENN  HOUSE,  PHILADELPHIA        .      .145 

XXXII    CARPENTERS'   HALL,   PHILADELPHIA      ....     149 

XXXIII  ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA  ....     153 

XXXIV  CLIVEDEN,    GERMANTOWN,    PHILADELPHIA   .       .       .156 
XXXV    OLD  PINE  STREET  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA  .       .       .159 

XXXVI    INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA  .       .       .      .162 
XXXVII    THE  DAVID  RITTENHOUSE  HOME,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA    170 

XXXVIII    THE  HEADQUARTERS  AT  VALLEY  FORGE,  PENNSYL 
VANIA       174 

XXXIX    THREE  HEADQUARTERS  OF  WASHINGTON      .       .       .178 

XL      SWEETBBIER-ON-THE-SCHUYLKILL,    PHILADELPHIA         .       183 

XLI    MILL  GROVE  AND  FATLANDS,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA    .     187 
XLII    WAYNESBOBOUGH,  NEAR  PAOLI,  PENNSYLVANIA        .     192 

XLIII    THE    MORAVIAN    CHURCH,    BETHLEHEM,    PENNSYL 
VANIA  196 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

FIVE:  OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE 

XLIV    HISTORIC  LANDMARKS  AT  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE  203 

XLV    THE  RIDGELY  HOUSE,  DOVER,  DELAWARE   .              .  208 

XL VI    REHOBOTH  CHURCH  ON  THE  POCOMOKE,  MARYLAND  .  211 

XL VII      DOUGHOREGAN    MANOR,    NEAR   ElXICOTT   ClTY,   MARY 
LAND          216 

XLVIII    THE  UPTON  SCOTT  HOUSE,  ANNAPOLIS,  MARYLAND  .  220 

XLIX    THE  CAPITOL  AT  WASHINGTON 225 

L    THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON        ....  230 

LI    THE  OCTAGON  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON    ....  234 

SIX:  HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS 

LII    MOUNT  VERNON,  VIRGINIA 241 

LIII    ARLINGTON,  VIRGINIA 246 

LIV    CHRIST  CHURCH,  ALEXANDRIA,  VIRGINIA     .       .       .  249 

LV    THE  MARY  WASHINGTON  HOUSE,  FREDERICKSBURG, 

VIRGINIA 251 

LVI    GREENWAY  AND  SHERWOOD  FOREST,  VIRGINIA  .       .  257 

LVII    Two  HISTORIC  COURTHOUSES  OF  VIRGINIA         .       .  262 

LVIII    ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  RICHMOND    .       .       .       .       .  266 

LIX    THE  NELSON  HOUSE  AND  THE  MOORE  HOUSE,  YORK- 
TOWN,   VIRGINIA 270 

LX    THE  JOHN  MARSHALL  HOUSE,  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA  274 

LXI    FIVE  OLD  HOUSES  OF  TIDEWATER,  VIRGINIA     .       .  278 

LXII    GUNSTON  HALL,  VIRGINIA 281 

LXIII    THE  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE  BUILDING,  LEXINGTON, 

VIRGINIA 285 

LXIV    BRUTON  PARISH  CHURCH,  WILLIAMSBURG,  VIRGINIA  288 

LXV    WILLIAM     AND    MARY     COLLEGE,     WILLIAMSBURG, 

VIRGINIA .291 

LXVI    THE  MONUMENTAL  CHURCH,  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA  .  294 


xii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

LXVII    MONTPELIER,  ORANGE  COUNTY,  VIBGINIA     .       .       .  296 

LXVIII    OAK  HILL,  LOUDOUN  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA      .       .       .  301 

LXIX     RED  HILL,  CHARLOTTE  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA  .       .       .  305 

LXX    POHICK  CHURCH,  TRURO  PARISH,  VIRGINIA        .       .  311 

LXXI    MOUNT  AIRY,  RICHMOND  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA    .       .314 

LXXII     Two  OF  VIRGINIA'S  OLDEST  CHURCH  BUILDINGS      .  318 

LXXIII       MONTICELLO,    NEAR    CHARLOTTESVILLE,    VIRGINIA         .  322 

LXXIV    THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA  AT  CHARLOTTESVILLE, 

VIRGINIA 326 

SEVEN:  THROUGH  THE   SUNNY  SOUTH 

LXXV    THREE    OLD    CHURCHES    IN    CHARLESTON,    SOUTH 

CAROLINA 333 

LXXVI    THE  HOUSE  OF  REBECCA  MOTTE,  CHARLESTON,  SOUTH 

CAROLINA 336 

LXXVTI    THE  INDEPENDENT  CHURCH,  SAVANNAH,  GEORGIA  .  340 

LXXVIII    THE  CABILDO  OF  NEW  ORLEANS 343 

LXXIX    THE  ALAMO,  SAN  ANTONIO,  TEXAS       .       .              .  347 

LXXX    THE  HERMITAGE,  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE  .       .       .351 

LXXXI    ASHLAND,  LEXINGTON,  KENTUCKY  .       .,  .       .       .  355 

LXXXII    SPORTSMAN'S  HALL,  WHITLEY'S  STATION,  KENTUCKY  359 

LXXXIII     WHITE  HAVEN,  NEAR  ST.  Louis,  MISSOURI        .       .  362 

EIGHT:    ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND 

LXXXIV    THE  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  HOUSE,  SPRINGFIELD,  ILLI 
NOIS         369 

LXXXV    THE  GOVERNOR'S  PALACE  AT  VINCENNES,  INDIANA  .  374 

LXXXVT    THE  HOUSE  OF  GENERAL  RUFUS  PUTNAM,  MARIETTA, 

OHIO 377 

LXXXVII    MONUMENT  PLACE,  ELM  GROVE,  WEST  VIRGINIA      .  381 

LXXXVIII    THE  CASTLE  AT  FORT  NIAGARA,  NEW  YORK        .      .  386 


CONTENTS  xiii 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

LXXXIX    THE  SCHUYLEB  MANSION,  ALBANY,  NEW  YOBK  .       .391 

XC    THE  WENTWORTH  HOUSE,  POBTSMOUTH,  NEW  HAMP- 

SHIBE .     395 

XCI    THE   WADSWOBTH  LONGFELLOW   HOUSE,  PORTLAND, 

MAINE      .       . 400 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 407 

INDEX  411 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  REAR  VIEW,  PHILADELPHIA,  PENNSYLVANIA 

Frontispiece 

PAGE 

OLD  STATE  HOUSE,  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 25 

PAUL  REVERE  HOUSE,  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS       ....  26 

HANCOCK-CLARKE  HOUSE,  LEXINGTON,  MASSACHUSETTS  ...  26 

OLD  NORTH  CHURCH,  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 34 

OLD  SOUTH  CHURCH,  BOSTON,  MASSACHUSETTS 35 

CRAIGIE  HOUSE,  CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS 48 

FERNSIDE  FARM,  HAVERHILL,  MASSACHUSETTS 48 

DUSTON  GARRISON  HOUSE,  HAVERHILL,  MASSACHUSETTS  ...  49 

ROYALL  HOUSE,  MEDFORD,  MASSACHUSETTS 49 

BROADHEARTH,  SAUGUS,  MASSACHUSETTS 70 

BENNET-BOARDMAN  HOUSE,  SAUGUS,  MASSACHUSETTS      ...  70 

OLD  SOUTH  CHURCH,  NEWBURYPORT,  MASSACHUSETTS            .       .  71 

MORRIS-JUMEL  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK  CITY 97 

PHILIPSE  MANOR  HOUSE,  YONKERS,  NEW  YORK 97 

FRAUNCES'  TAVERN,  NEW  YORK  CITY 98 

VAN  CORTLANDT  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK  CITY 98 

THE  FRANKLIN  PALACE,  PERTH  AMBOY,  NEW  JERSEY       .       .       .121 

OLD  TENNENT  CHURCH,  FREEHOLD,  NEW  JERSEY 121 

NASSAU  HALL  AND  THE  FIRST  PRESIDENT'S  HOUSE,  PRINCETON, 

NEW  JERSEY 122 

MORVEN,  PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY 122 

LETITIA  PENN  HOUSE,  PHILADELPHIA,  PENNSYLVANIA     .       .       .146 

ST.  PETER'S  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA,  PENN 
SYLVANIA      147 

xv 


xvi  ILLUSTKATIONS 

PAGE 

CLIVEDEN,  PHILADELPHIA,  PENNSYLVANIA 160 

THIKD  (OiD  PINE  STREET)  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA, 

PENNSYLVANIA 160 

DAVID  RITTENHOUSE'S  HOUSE,  NORRISTOWN,  PENNSYLVANIA  .       .  161 

DAWESPIELD,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,  PENNSYLVANIA     ....  161 

EMLEN  HOUSE,  NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,  PENNSYLVANIA       .       .       .  179 

FATLANDS,  NEAR  PHOENIXVILLE,  PENNSYLVANIA 179 

WAYNESBOROUGH,  PAOLI,  PENNSYLVANIA 180 

MORAVIAN  CHURCH,  BETHLEHEM,  PENNSYLVANIA       ....  180 

AMSTEL  HOUSE,  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE 205 

DOORWAY  OF  AMSTEL  HOUSE,  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE  .       .       .  205 

HALL  OF  READ  HOUSE,  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE       ....  205 

DOORWAY  OF  RODNEY  HOUSE,  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE  .       .       .  206 

DOORWAY  OF  STEWART  HOUSE,  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE  .       .       .  206 

DOORWAY  OF  READ  HOUSE,  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE  ....  206 

DOORWAY  OF  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE      .  206 

IMMANUEL  CHURCH,  NEW  CASTLE,  DELAWARE 217 

RIDGELY  HOUSE,  DOVER,  DELAWARE .218 

DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR,  NEAR  ELLICOTT  ClTY,  MARYLAND  .       .       .218 

UPTON  SCOTT  HOUSE,  ANNAPOLIS,  MARYLAND 233 

OCTAGON  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C 233 

THE  STAIRWAY,  OCTAGON  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.             .       .  234 

MOUNT  VERNON,  VIRGINIA,  REAR  VIEW 244 

ARLINGTON,  VIRGINIA 244 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  ALEXANDRIA,  VIRGINIA 245 

MARY  WASHINGTON'S  HOUSE,  FREDERICKSBURG,  VIRGINIA       .       .  262 

HANOVER  COURT  HOUSE,  VIRGINIA 262 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA 263 

NELSON  HOUSE,  YORKTOWN,  VIRGINIA 263 

WESTOVER  ON  THE  JAMES,  VIRGINIA 282 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xvii 

PAGE 

GUNSTON  HALL  ON  THE  POTOMAC,  VIRGINIA 282 

WASHINGTON  COLLEGE  BUILDING,  LEXINGTON,  VIRGINIA  .       .       .  283 

BRUTON  PARISH  CHURCH,  WILLIAMSBURG,  VIRGINIA  ....  283 

MONUMENTAL  CHURCH,  RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA 314 

POHICK  CHURCH,  VIRGINIA .       .314 

MOUNT  AIRY,  RICHMOND  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA 315 

UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  CHARLOTTESVILLE,  VIRGINIA     .       .       .  315 

INDEPENDENT  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  SAVANNAH,  GEORGIA  .         .  336 

PRINGLE  HOUSE,  CHARLESTON,  SOUTH  CAROLINA       ....  337 

THE  CABILDO,  NEW  ORLEANS,  LOUISIANA 337 

THE  HERMITAGE,  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE 352 

ASHLAND,  LEXINGTON,  KENTUCKY 352 

SPORTSMAN'S  HALL,  WHITLEY'S  STATION,  KENTUCKY       .       .       .  353 

WHITE  HAVEN,  ST.  Louis,  MISSOURI 353 

ABRAHAM  LINCOLN'S  HOUSE,  SPRINGFIELD,  ILLINOIS  ....  370 

WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON'S  HOUSE,  VINCENNES,  INDIANA     .       .  370 

RUFUS  PUTNAM'S  HOUSE,  MARIETTA,  OHIO 371 

THE  SCHUYLER  MANSION,  ALBANY^  NEW  YORK 371 

WENTWORTH  HOUSE,  PORTSMOUTH,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE     .       .       .  394 

WARNER  HOUSE,  PORTSMOUTH,  NEW  HAMPSHIRE       ....  394 

WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW  HOUSE,  PORTLAND,  MAINE     .       .       .  395 


ONE:  IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS 


The  riches  of  the  Commonwealth 

Are  free,  strong  minds,  and  hearts  of  health; 

And  more  to  her  than  gold  or  grain, 

The  cunning  hand  and  cultured  brain. 

For  well  she  keeps  her  ancient  stock, 
The  stubborn  strength  of  Pilgrim  Rock; 
And  still  maintains,  with  milder  laws, 
And  clearer  light,  the  Good  Old  Cause! 

Nor  heeds  the  skeptic's  puny  hands, 

While  near  her  school  the  church-spire  stands; 

Nor  fears  the  blinded  bigot's  rule, 

While  near  her  church-spire  stands  the  school. 

— JOHN  GBEENLEAF  WHITTIEB. 


ONE:  IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS 


THE  OLD  STATE  HOUSE,  BOSTON, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

FROM  WHOSE  BALCONY  THE  DECLARATION  OF 
INDEPENDENCE  WAS  PROCLAIMED 

Thirty-three  years  after  Captain  John  Smith  sailed 
into  Boston  Harbor,  the  first  Town  House  was  built. 
This  was  in  1657.  The  second  Town  House,  which  was 
built  on  the  same  site,  was  erected  in  1712.  In  1748  the 
third  Town  House,  later  the  Old  State  House,  followed 
the  structure  of  1712,  the  outer  walls  of  the  old  build 
ing  being  used  in  the  new. 

Since  1689,  when  Governor  Andros'  tyranny  was  over 
thrown,  the  old  building  has  been  in  the  thick  of  his 
toric  events.  How  it  figured  in  the  Boston  Massacre 
was  shown  by  John  Tudor  in  his  diary.  He  wrote  : 

"  March,  1770.  On  Monday  evening  the  5th  current, 
a  few  Minutes  after  9  o'clock  a  most  horrid  murder  was 
committed  in  King  Street  before  the  custom  house  Door 
by  8  or  9  Soldiers  under  the  Command  of  Capt.  Thos 
Preston  of  the  Main  Guard  on  the  South  side  of  the 
Town  House.  This  unhappy  affair  began  by  Some  Boys 
&  young  fellowrs  throwing  Snow  Balls  at  the  sentry 
placed  at  the  Custom  house  Door.  On  which  8  or  9 
Soldiers  Came  to  his  Assistance.  Soon  after  a  Number 

19 


20          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

of  people  collected,  when  the  Capt  commanded  the  Sol 
diers  to  fire,  which  they  did  and  3  Men  were  KiPd  on 
the  Spot  &  several  Mortaly  Wounded,  one  of  which  died 
next  Morning.  .  .  .  Lent  Governor  Hutchinson,  who 
was  Commander  in  Chiefe,  was  sent  for  &  Came  to  the 
Council  Chamber,  where  some  of  the  Magustrates  at 
tended.  The  Governor  desired  the  Multitude  about  10 
O'Clock  to  sepperat  &  to  go  home  peaceable  &  he  would 
do  all  in  his  power  that  Justice  should  be  done  &c.  The 
29  Regiment  being  then  under  Arms  on  the  south  side 
of  the  Townhouse,  but  the  people  insisted  that  the  Sol 
diers  should  be  ordered  to  their  Barracks  first  before 
they  would  sepperat.  Which  being  done  the  people 
sepperated  aboute  1  O'Clock." 


Next  day  the  people  met  in  Faneuil  Hall,  and  de 
manded  the  immediate  removal  of  the  troops.  The 
demand  being  refused,  they  met  again  at  Faneuil  Hall, 
but  adjourned  to  Old  South  Church,  since  the  larger 
hall  was  required  to  accommodate  the  aroused  citizens. 
A  new  committee,  headed  by  Samuel  Adams,  sought 
Hutchinson  in  the  Council  Chamber  of  the  Town  House, 
and  secured  his  permission  to  remove  the  troops  with 
out  delay. 

The  next  event  of  note  in  the  history  of  the  old  build 
ing  was  the  public  reading  there  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  on  July  18,  1776,  in  accordance  with  the 
message  of  John  Hancock,  President  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  who  asked  that  it  be  proclaimed  "  in  such 
a  mode  that  the  people  may  be  impressed  by  it." 

Abigail  Adams  told  in  a  letter  to  her  husband,  John 
Adams,  of  the  reading: 

"  I  went  with  the  multitude  to  King  street  to  hear 
the  Declaration  Proclamation  for  Independence  read 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          21 

and  proclaimed.  .  .  .  Great  attention  was  given  to 
every  word.  .  .  .  Thus  ends  royal  Authority  in  the 
state." 

A  British  prisoner  on  parole,  who  was  an  invited 
guest  at  the  reading  of  the  Declaration,  wrote  a  de 
tailed  narrative  of  the  events  of  the  day,  in  the  Town 
Hall,  in  which  he  said: 

"  Exactly  as  the  clock  struck  one,  Colonel  Crafts, 
who  occupied  the  chair,  rose  and,  silence  being  obtained, 
read  aloud  the  declaration,  which  announced  to  the 
world  that  the  tie  of  allegiance  and  protection,  which 
had  so  long  held  Britain  and  her  North  American  col 
onies  together,  was  forever  separated.  This  being  fin 
ished,  the  gentlemen  stood  up,  and  each,  repeating  the 
words  as  they  were  spoken  by  an  officer,  swore  to  up 
hold,  at  the  sacrifice  of  life,  the  rights  of  his  country. 
Meanwhile  the  town  clerk  read  from  the  balcony  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  to  the  crowd;  at  the  close 
of  which,  a  Shout  began  in  the  hall,  passed  like  an  elec 
tric  spark  to  the  streets,  which  rang  with  loud  huzzas, 
the  slow  and  measured  boom  of  Cannon,  and  the  rattle 
of  musketry." 

Thirteen  years  later,  when  Washington  visited  Bos 
ton,  he  passed  through  a  triumphal  arch  to  the  State 
House.  In  his  diary  he  told  of  what  followed  his  en 
trance  to  the  historic  building : 

"  Three  cheers  was  given  by  a  vast  concourse  of 
people,  Who,  by  this  time,  had  assembled  at  the  Arch — 
then  followed  an  ode  composed  in  honor  of  the  Presi 
dent;  and  well  sung  by  a  band  of  select  singers — After 
this  three  cheers — followed  by  the  different  Professions 
and  Mechanics  in  the  order  they  were  drawn  up,  with 
their  colors,  through  a  lane  of  the  people  which  had 
thronged  about  the  arch  under  which  they  passed." 


22          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 
The  ode  sung  that  day  was  as  follows: 

"  General  Washington,  the  hero's  come, 

Each  heart  exulting  hears  the  sound; 
See,  thousands  their  deliverer  throng, 
And  shout  his  welcome  all  around. 

Now  in  full  chorus  bursts  the  song, 
And  shout  the  deeds  of  Washington. ' ' 

The  Old  State  House  was  near  destruction  in  1835, 
as  a  result  of  the  uproar  that  followed  the  attempt  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  to  make  an  abolition  address 
in  the  hall  next  door  to  the  office  of  the  Liberator,  whose 
editor  he  was.  A  furious  crowd  demanded  his  blood, 
and  he  was  persuaded  to  retire.  Later  the  doors  of 
the  Liberator  office  where  he  had  taken  refuge  were 
broken  down,  and,  after  a  chase,  the  hunted  man  was 
seized  and  dragged  to  the  rear  of  the  Old  State  House, 
then  used  as  the  City  Hall  and  Post-office.  The  mayor 
rescued  him  from  the  mob,  which  was  talking  of  hang 
ing  him,  and  carried  him  into  the  State  House.  The 
threats  of  the  outwitted  people  became  so  loud  that  it 
was  feared  the  building  would  be  destroyed  and  that 
Garrison  would  be  killed.  As  soon  as  possible,  there 
fore,  he  was  spirited  away  to  the  Leverett  Street  jail. 

For  many  years,  until  1882,  the  Old  State  House  was 
used  for  business  purposes,  after  previous  service  as 
Town  House,  City  Hall,  Court  House,  and  State  House. 
It  is  now  used  as  a  historical  museum  by  the  Bostonian 
Society. 

The  historic  halls  within  the  building  have  the  same 
walls  and  ceilings  as  when  the  old  house  was  erected 
in  1748.  For  many  years  the  exterior  was  covered  with 
unsightly  paint,  but  this  has  been  scraped  off,  and  the 
brick  walls  gleam  red  as  in  former  days. 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          23 


II 


PAUL  REVERE 'S  HOUSE,  BOSTON, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

WHERE  THE  MERCURY  OF  THE  REVOLUTION  LIVED 
AND  TOILED 

"  Take  three  fourths  of  a  Paine  that  makes  Traitors  Confess  (RAC) 

With  three  parts  of  a  place  which  the  Wicked  don't  Bless  (HEL) 

Joyne  four  sevenths  of  an  Exercise  which  shop-keepers  use  (WALK) 

Add  what  Bad  Men  do,  when  they  good  actions  refuse  (ER) 
These  four  added  together  with  great  care  and  Art 
Will  point  out  the  Fair  One  that  is  nearest  my  Heart." 

Thus  wrote  Paul  Revere,  the  Boston  goldsmith,  on 
the  back  of  a  bill  to  Mr.  Benjamin  Greene  for  "  Gold 
buttons/'  "  Mending  a  Spoon,"  and  "  Two  pr.  of  Silver 
Shoe  Buckles,"  which  wras  made  out  one  day  in  1773 
in  the  old  house  in  North  Square,  built  in  1676.  To 
this  house  he  planned  to  lead  as  his  second  wife  Rachel 
Walker;  his  eight  children  needed  a  mother's  care,  and 
he  wanted  some  one  to  share  the  joys  and  the  burdens 
of  his  life. 

Before  his  first  marriage,  in  1757,  he  had  served  as 
a  second  lieutenant  in  a  company  of  artillery,  in  the 
expedition  against  Crown  Point.  Soldiering  was  suc 
ceeded  by  work  at  his  trade  of  goldsmith  and  silversmith, 
learned  from  his  father.  He  was  a  skilled  engraver; 
most  of  the  silverware  made  in  Boston  at  this  period 
testified  to  his  ability.  Later,  when  the  rising  patriotic 
tide  seemed  to  call  for  lithographs  and  broadsides,  he 
engraved  these  on  copper  with  eager  brain  and  active 
hand. 


24:          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

He  began  his  patriotic  work  as  a  member  of  the  secret 
order  The  Sons  of  Liberty,  which  had  organizations  in 
nearly  all  the  colonies,  held  frequent  meetings,  and 
laid  plans  for  resisting  the  encroachments  of  Great 
Britain.  Once,  when  some  three  hundred  of  these  Sons 
dined  at  Dorchester,  Paul  Revere  was  present,  as  well 
as  Samuel  Adams,  John  Adams,  and  John  Hancock. 

It  was  necessary  to  have  a  trusted  messenger  to  carry 
tidings  of  moment  from  place  to  place,  and  Paul  Revere 
was  one  of  those  chosen  for  the  purpose.  His  first  im 
portant  ride  was  at  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  the 
tea  in  Boston  harbor.  He  had  a  leading  part  in  bring 
ing  together  the  patriots  who  gathered  on  November  29, 
1773,  first  at  Faneuil  Hall,  then  at  Old  South  Meeting 
House,  to  protest  against  the  landing  of  the  tea  from 
the  ship  Dartmouth,  and  he  was  one  of  the  men  who, 
on  December  16,  in  Indian  disguise,  threw  £18,000 
worth  of  tea  into  the  harbor.  In  preparation  for  the 
rallying  of  the  men  of  the  tea  party  at  the  "  Green 
Dragon,"  the  following  ditty  was  composed: 

"  Rally  Mohawks!  bring  out  your  axes, 
And  tell  King  George  we'll  pay  no  taxes 

On  his  foreign  tea. 

His  threats  are  vain,  and  vain  to  think 
To  force  our  girls  and  wives  to  drink 

His  vile  Bohea! 

Then  rally  boys,  and  hasten  on 
To  meet  our  chief  at  the  Green  Dragon. 

"  Old  Warren's  there,  and  bold  Revere, 
With  hands  to  do,  and  words  to  cheer, 

For  liberty  and  laws; 
Our  country's  brave  and  free  defenders 
Shall  ne'er  be  left  by  true  North-Enders 
Fighting  Freedoms  cause! 


Photo  by  Halliday  Historic  Photograph  Company,  Boston 


OLD    STATE    HOUSE.    BOSTON 


See  Page  19 


PAUL    REVERE    HOUSE,    BOSTON 


Photo  by  Hulliday  Historic  Photograph  Company 
See  Page  23 


HANCOCK-CLARKE  HOUSE,  LEXINGTON,  MASS. 


Photo  bu  Hull  ii//ii/  Hixtorii-  Photograph  Company 

See  Page  23 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          25 

Then  rally  boys,  and  hasten  on 

To  meet  our  chiefs  at  the  Green  Dragon." 


Of  the  work  done  by  the  Mohawks  on  that  December 
night  John  Adams  wrote  on  December  17,  1773,  "  This 
Destruction  of  the  Tea  is  so  bold,  so  daring,  so  firm, 
intrepid,  and  inflexible,  and  it  must  have  so  important 
Consequences,  and  so  lasting,  that  I  can't  but  consider 
it  as  an  Epoch  in  History." 

The  enactment  of  the  Boston  Port  Bill  was  the  cause 
of  Revere's  next  ride.  A  meeting  of  citizens  in  Boston 
decided  to  ask  the  other  colonies  "  to  come  into  a  joint 
resolution  to  stop  all  importation  from,  and  exportation 
to,  Great  Britain  and  every  part  of  the  West  Indies  till 
the  act  be  repealed,"  in  the  thought  that  this  would 
"  prove  the  salvation  of  North  America  and  her 
liberties." 

These  resolutions  were  given  to  Paul  Revere  by  the 
selectmen  of  Boston,  and  he  was  urged  to  ride  with  all 
speed  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  On  May  30, 
1774,  the  Essex  Gazette  told  of  the  return  of  the  mes 
senger,  and  announced,  "  Nothing  can  exceed  the  indig 
nation  with  which  our  brethren  of  Rhode  Island, 
Connecticut,  New  York  and  Philadelphia  have  received 
this  proof  of  Ministerial  madness.  They  universally 
declare  their  resolution  to  stand  by  us  to  the  last 
extremity." 

Four  months  later  another  ride  to  Philadelphia  was 
taken,  to  carry  to  the  Continental  Congress  the  Suffolk 
Resolves.  Six  days  only  were  taken  for  the  journey. 
When  Congress  learned  of  the  protest  in  New  England 
against  the  principle  "  that  Parliament  had  the  right 
to  legislate  for  the  colonies  in  all  cases  .whatsoever/* 


26          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

there  was  no  question  that  a  new  nation  was  ready  for 
birth.  "  I  think  I  may  assure  you,  that  America  will 
make  a  point  of  supporting  Boston  to  the  utmost," 
Samuel  Adams  wrote,  the  day  after  Revere's  message 
was  read. 

Once  more  during  the  historic  year  1774  the  Boston 
silversmith  turned  aside  from  his  shop  long  enough 
to  ride  to  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  to  give  in 
formation  of  the  prohibition  by  Great  Britain  of  further 
importations  of  gunpowder,  and  to  tell  of  the  coming 
of  a  large  garrison  to  Fort  William  and  Mary  at  Ports 
mouth.  The  immediate  result  of  the  ride  was  the  send 
ing  of  a  party  of  four  hundred  patriots  against  the  fort, 
which  surrendered  at  once.  Little  attention  has  been 
paid  to  this  event  by  historians,  yet  it  was  one  of  the 
most  potent  of  the  events  preceding  the  Revolution. 
One  hundred  barrels  of  gunpowder  were  seized  at  the 
fort,  and  this  was  a  large  part  of  the  ammunition  used 
later  at  Bunker  Hill. 

Then  came  April  18,  1775,  the  date  of  "  that  memo 
rable  ride,  not  only  the  most  brilliant,  but  the  most 
important  single  exploit  in  our  national  annals."  The 
Provincial  Congress  and  the  Committee  of  Safety  were 
in  session  at  Concord.  General  Warren  had  remained 
in  Boston  to  wratch  the  movements  of  the  British,  and 
Revere  had  been  holding  himself  in  readiness  to  carry 
tidings  as  soon  as  there  was  anything  of  importance 
to  be  told.  Now  word  was  to  be  sent  to  John  Hancock 
and  Samuel  Adams,  who  were  at  the  residence  of  Rev. 
Mr.  Clarke  at  Lexington,  "  that  a  number  of  soldiers 
were  marching  towards  the  bottom  of  the  Common, 
.  .  .  and  that  it  was  thought  they  were  the  objects  of 
the  movement."  Revere  had  foreseen  the  necessity  for 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          27 

the  ride,  and,  fearing  that  he  might  not  be  able  to  cross 
the  Charles  Kiver,  or  get  over  Boston  Neck,  had  ar 
ranged  with  patriots  in  Charleston  that  two  "  Ian- 
thorns  "  would  be  shown  in  the  North  Church  steeple 
if  the  British  went  out  by  water,  and  one  if  they  went 
by  land. 

On  the  night  of  April  18  Kevere  was  rowed  by  two 
friends  across  Charles  Kiver,  passing  almost  under  the 
guns  of  the  Somerset.  After  conferring  with  the 
Charleston  patriots,  who  had  seen  the  signals,  he  se 
cured  a  horse,  and  started  toward  Lexington,  proceed 
ing;  with  extreme  care,  because  he  had  been  told  that 

O  ' 

ten  mounted  British  officers  had  been  seen  going  up  the 
road.  Once  he  was  chased  by  two  British  officers.  At 
Medford  he  awakened  the  captain  of  the  minute  men. 
"  After  that  I  alarmed  almost  every  house  till  I  got  to 
Lexington,"  the  patriot  rider  later  told  the  story. 
Messrs.  Hancock  and  Adams  were  aroused.  Then 
Revere  went  on  to  Concord,  accompanied  by  two  others, 
that  the  stores  might  be  secured.  Once  more  residents 
by  the  roadside  were  awakened.  He  himself  was  soon 
surrounded  by  four  mounted  British  soldiers,  but  his 
companions  were  able  to  proceed.  After  a  time  he  was 
released  by  his  captors,  and  he  made  his  way  to  the 
Clarke  house,  where  Hancock  and  Adams  still  were. 

Thus  the  way  was  prepared  for  Concord  and  Lexing 
ton.  That  the  patriots  were  not  taken  by  surprise,  and 
the  stores  at  Concord  taken,  as  the  British  had  hoped, 
was  due  to  the  courage  and  resourcefulness  of  Paul 
Revere. 

Revere's  rides  as  messenger  did  not  end  his  services 
to  the  colonists.  In  1775  he  engraved  the  plates  and 
printed  the  bills  of  the  paper  money  of  Massachusetts, 


28          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

and  later  he  built  and  operated  a  powder  mill.  He 
was  made  lieutenant-colonel  of  State  artillery,  and  took 
part  in  the  unfortunate  Penobscot  expedition  out  of 
which  grew  the  charges  of  which  he  was  triumphantly 
acquitted  by  the  court-martial  held  at  his  own  request. 
The  old  house  in  North  Square  was  the  home  of  the 
Revere  family  until  about  1795. 


Ill 

FANEUIL  HALL,  BOSTON 
"  THE  CRADLE  OF  AMERICAN  LIBERTY " 

Andrew  Faneuil  was  one  of  the  Huguenots  who  fled 
from  France  as  a  result  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes.  By 
way  of  Holland  he  came  to  Boston.  It  is  a  matter  of 
official  record  that  on  February  1,  1691,  he  was  ad 
mitted  by  the  Governor  and  Council  of  the  Massachu 
setts  Bay  Colony. 

Within  a  few  years  the  refugee  was  looked  upon  as 
a  leader  both  in  the  French  church  and  in  business. 
Copies  of  invoices  of  merchandise  consigned  to  him 
show  that  he  was  a  dealer  in  all  kinds  of  supplies  of 
food,  household  furnishings,  and  dress  goods. 

When  he  died,  in  1738,  the  Boston  News  Letter  said 
that  "  1,100  persons  of  all  Ranks,  beside  the  Mourners," 
followed  the  body  to  the  grave.  "  And  'tis  supposed 
that  as  the  Gentleman's  fortune  was  the  greatest  of  any 
among  us,  so  his  funeral  was  the  most  generous  and 
expensive  of  any  that  has  been  known  here." 

Peter  Faneuil,  the  heir  and  successor  to  the  fortune 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGKIMS          29 

and  business  of  Ms  uncle,  was  a  shrewd  business  man 
who  knew  how  to  make  the  most  of  his  opportunities. 
But  he  took  time  to  think  and  plan  for  his  fellow-towns 
men.  He  was  disturbed  because  there  was  no  adequate 
public  market  in  Boston,  and  he  was  not  discouraged 
by  the  fact  that  numerous  attempts  to  establish  such 
a  convenience  had  been  received  with  hostility  by  the 
people,  especially  the  farmers,  who  felt  that  they  would 
have  a  better  chance  to  sell  from  house  to  house  on  any 
day  than  in  a  fixed  place  on  a  set  day. 

His  proposition  to  provide  the  market  by  gift  to  the 
town  stirred  up  a  spirited  controversy.  At  a  town 
meeting  called  to  consider  the  proposition,  held  on 
July  14,  1740,  the  attendance  was  so  large  that  the 
company  adjourned  to  the  Brattle  Street  Meeting 
House. 

There  the  people  set  themselves  to  consider  the 
proposition  of  Peter  Faneuil,  who  "  hath  been  gener 
ously  pleased  to  offer  at  his  own  cost  and  charge  to 
erect  and  build  a  noble  and  complete  structure  or  edi 
fice  to  be  improved  for  a  market,  for  the  sole  use,  benefit 
and  advantage  of  the  town,  provided  that  the  town  of 
Boston  would  pass  a  vote  for  the  purpose,  and  lay  the 
same  under  such  proper  regulation  as  shall  be  thought 
necessary,  and  constantly  support  it  for  the  said  use.'7 

The  gift  had  a  narrow  escape  from  the  727  voters 
who  cast  the  ballots.  The  majority  in  favor  of  ac 
cepting  the  market  was  only  seven ! 

The  average  giver  would  have  been  discouraged  by 
such  a  reception;  but  Peter  Faneuil,  on  the  contrary, 
did  more  than  he  had  proposed.  When  the  selectmen 
were  told  in  August,  1742 — seven  months  before  Fan- 
euil's  death — that  the  building  was  ready,  there  was 


30          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OP  AMERICA 

not  only  a  market  house,  but  above  it  a  hall  for  town 
meetings  and  other  gatherings.  By  action  of  the  meet 
ing  called  to  accept  the  building  the  hall  over  the  mar 
ket  was  named  Faneuil  Hall. 

"  I  hope  that  what  I  have  done  will  be  of  service 
to  the  whole  country,"  was  the  donor's  response  to  this 
graceful  act. 

At  once  the  Hall  became  a  Boston  institution.  The 
town  offices  were  removed  to  the  building,  town  meet 
ings  were  held  there,  and  a  series  of  public  concerts  was 
given  in  it.  The  market,  however,  was  not  popular. 

The  fire  of  January  13,  1761,  destroyed  the  interior 
of  the  building.  The  money  for  rebuilding  was  raised 
by  a  lottery. 

Faneuil  Hall  began  its  career  as  a  national  institu 
tion  on  August  27,  1765,  when  the  voters,  in  mass  meet 
ing,  denounced  the  lawless  acts  of  "  Persons  unknown  " 
by  which  they  had  shown  their  hatred  of  the  iniquitous 
Stamp  Act.  At  a  second  meeting,  held  on  September 
12,  the  voters  instructed  their  Representatives  "  as  to 
their  conduct  at  this  very  alarming  crisis." 

"  The  genuine  Sons  of  Liberty  "  gathered  in  the  Hall 
March  18,  1767,  that  they  might  rejoice  together  be 
cause  of  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act.  The  Boston 
Gazette  reported  that  "  a  large  company  of  the  prin 
cipal  inhabitants  crowded  i>hat  spacious  apartment,  and 
with  loud  huzzas,  and  repeated  acclamations  at  each 
of  the  twenty-five  toasts,  saluted  the  glorious  and  memo 
rable  heroes  of  America,  particularly  those  who  dis 
tinguished  themselves  in  the  cause  of  Liberty,  which 
was  ever  growing  under  the  iron  hand  of  oppression." 

What  has  been  called  "  perhaps  the  most  dramatic 
scene  in  all  history  "  was  staged  in  this  Cradle  of  Lib- 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          31 

erty  on  the  day  after  the  Boston  Massacre,  March  6, 
1770.  The  crowd  was  so  large  that  it  was  necessary 
to  adjourn  to  Old  South  before  action  could  be  taken 
requesting  the  governor  to  withdraw  the  troops  whose 
presence  had  led  to  the  massacre. 

Then  came  the  tea  meetings.  The  first  of  these  was 
held  in  the  Hall  on  November  5,  1773.  At  this  meeting 
committees  were  appointed  to  wait  on  the  several  per 
sons  to  whom  tea  had  been  consigned  by  the  East  India 
Company,  "  and  in  the  name  of  the  town  to  request 
them  from  a  regard  to  their  character,  and  to  the  peace 
and  good  order  of  the  town,  immediately  to  resign  their 
trust."  The  response  made  to  these  committees  and 
to  subsequent  tea  meetings  was  unsatisfactory,  and  on 
December  16  a  number  of  disguised  citizens  gathered 
at  the  waterfront  and  held  the  "  Boston  Tea  Party." 

The  occupation  of  Boston  by  the  British  interrupted 
the  Faneuil  Hall  town  meetings,  but  soon  after  the 
evacuation  of  the  city  the  people  turned  their  steps 
thither  for  public  gatherings  of  many  sorts.  Fortu 
nately  the  building  had  not  been  seriously  injured. 
When  Washington  entered  the  city  he  spoke  with  feel 
ing  of  the  safety  of  the  structure  that  had  meant  so 
much  to  the  people. 

It  was  fitting  that,  in  the  stirring  days  that  preceded 
the  War  of  1812,  meetings  to  protest  against  the  acts 
of  Great  Britain  should  be  held  here.  Historic  gather 
ings  followed  during  this  war,  as  also  during  the  War 
of  1861-65. 

Three  times  Faneuil  Hall  has  been  rebuilt  since  its 
donor  turned  it  over  to  his  fellow-citizens.  The  first 
reconstruction  came  after  the  fire.  In  1806  the  build 
ing  was  enlarged  and  improved.  'Again  in  1898  it  was 


32          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

completely  rebuilt  and  made  fireproof,  though,  wherever 
possible,  original  materials  were  used.  While  it  is 
much  larger  than  in  the  early  days,  the  general  appear 
ance  is  so  similar  that  the  structure  would  be  recog 
nized  by  such  an  ardent  lover  of  the  early  structure  as 
Lafayette,  who,  when  he  was  in  Boston  in  1824,  said : 

"  May  Faneuil  Hall  ever  stand,  a  monument  to  teach 
the  world  that  resistance  to  oppression  is  a  duty,  and 
will  under  true  republican  institutions  become  a 
blessing." 


IV 

THREE  HISTORIC  CHURCHES  OF  BOSTON 
THE  STORY  OF  OLD  NORTH,  OLD  SOUTH,  AND  KING'S  CHAPEL 

The  First  Church  of  Boston  would  have  been  large 
enough  for  all  its  members  for  many  years  longer  than 
they  worshipped  together,  if  they  had  been  of  one  mind 
politically.  But  the  differences  that  separated  people 
in  England  in  the  troublous  days  of  Charles  I  were 
repeated  in  Boston.  For  this  reason  some  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  First  Church  thought  they  would  be  better 
off  by  themselves,  and  in  1650  they  organized  the  Sec 
ond  Church.  Later  the  church  became  known  as  North 
Church,  by  reason  of  its  location.  As  it  grew  older 
the  name  Old  North  was  applied  to  it. 

From  its  organization  Old  North  became  known  as 
the  church  of  spirited  reformers,  a  real  school  for 
patriots.  Increase  Mather,  one  of  its  early  pastors, 
was  responsible  for  developing  and  directing  the  pe- 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          33 

culiar  genius  of  its  organization.  At  the  time  of  the 
Revolution  the  British  officers  spoke  of  the  church  as 
"a  nest  of  traitors." 

Many  mass  meetings  to  protest  against  the  acts  of 
Great  Britain  were  held  in  this  church.  The  corpora 
tion  used  it  for  a  time  as  a  fire  house  and  a  public 
arsenal,  and  when  signals  were  given  by  the  direction 
of  Paul  Revere  on  the  night  of  his  famous  ride  the  lan 
terns  were  hung  in  the  steeple  of  Old  North. 

The  original  building  of  1652  was  burned  in  1673. 
The  second  building  was  also  burned,  but  by  the  Brit 
ish,  who  tore  it  down  and  used  it  for  firewood  during 
the  cold  winter  of  the  occupation  of  the  city. 

After  the  destruction  of  the  building  the  members  of 
New  Brick  Church,  an  offshoot  of  Old  North,  invited 
the  congregation  to  worship  with  them.  The  invitation 
was  accepted,  and  soon  the  congregations  came  together, 
under  the  name  Old  North.  The  building  occupied  ever 
since  by  the  reunited  congregation  was  erected  in  1723. 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  served  as  pastor  and  conducted 
services  in  this  structure. 

In  1669  there  were  many  earnest  people  who  felt  that 
the  teachings  of  the  older  church  were  not  liberal 
enough  for  them,  and  they  decided  to  have  a  church 
after  their  own  heart.  They  felt  that  all  who  had  been 
baptized  might  be  citizens  of  the  town;  they  were  un 
willing  to  be  associated  longer  with  those  who  insisted, 
as  the  General  Synod  of  Massachusetts  recommended, 
that  all  citizens  must  be  church  members,  as  formerly. 
So  permission  to  organize  was  asked  of  the  other 
churches.  On  their  refusal  appeal  was  taken  to  the 
Governor.  The  next  appeal,  to  the  selectmen  of  Boston, 
was  successful. 


34          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

The  new  church,  which  was  called  the  South  Meeting 
House,  was  built  on  the  site  of  Governor  Winthrop's 
house.  In  1717  the  people  began  to  call  the  church 
"  The  Old  South,"  to  distinguish  it  from  another  church 
Which  was  still  further  south. 

In  1685  Governor  Andros  insisted  that  the  Old  South 
building  should  be  used  for  the  Church  of  England 
service,  as  well  as  for  the  services  of  the  owners  of  the 
building.  For  two  years  Churchmen  and  Congrega- 
tionalists  occupied  it  harmoniously  at  different  hours 
on  Sunday. 

On  a  Fast  Day  in  1696  Judge  Sewall  stood  up  before 
the  congregation  while  they  heard  him  read  his  prayer 
for  the  forgiveness  of  God  and  his  fellow-citizens  for 
any  possible  guilt  he  had  incurred  in  the  witchcraft 
trials. 

Ten  years  later,  on  the  day  he  was  born,  January  17, 
1706,  Benjamin  Franklin  was  baptized  in  the  church, 
though  not  in  the  present  building. 

The  building  made  famous  by  the  series  of  town 
meetings  before  and  during  the  Revolution  was  erected 
in  1730.  When  Faneuil  Hall  was  too  small  to  hold 
the  crowds  that  clamored  for  entrance,  Old  South  was 
pressed  into  use.  On  June  14,  1768,  at  one  of  these 
meetings,  a  petition  was  sent  to  the  Governor  asking 
that  the  British  frigate  be  removed  from  the  harbor. 
John  Hancock  was  chairman  of  this  committee.  The 
Boston  Tea  Party  followed  a  mass  meeting  held  here. 

Burgoyne's  cavalry  used  Old  South  Church  as  a  rid 
ing  school.  Pigs  were  kept  in  one  of  the  pews,  while 
many  of  the  furnishings  were  burned. 

Since  March,  1776,  when  the  church  was  repaired, 
it  has  been  little  changed.  Services  were  discontinued 


Photo  by  Hnllnluu  Historic  Photograph 


OLD  NORTH  CHURCH,  BOSTON 


See  page  32 


>>u   llaUiilii;/   Historic  Photograph  Company 


OLD  SOUTH  CHURCH,   BOSTON 


See  page  3-4 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          35 

in  1872.  After  the  great  fire  the  building  was  used 
as  a  post-office. 

Five  years  later  there  was  talk  of  destroying  the 
historic  structure  that  the  valuable  lot  might  be  use^d 
for  business  purposes,  but  the  efforts  of  patriotic  women 
were  successful  in  preserving  the  relic.  Since  that  time 
it  has  been  kept  open  as  a  museum. 

While  Old  North  and  Old  South  were  organizations 
expressing  the  will  of  the  people,  the  third  of  the  famous 
churches  of  Boston  was  the  expression  of  the  will  of 
King  James  II  of  England.  During  more  than  sixty 
years  of  the  city's  history  there  had  been  no  congrega 
tion  of  the  Church  of  England;  members  of  that  body 
were  required  to  attend  service  in  the  existing  parishes. 
A  minister  and  a  commission  sent  from  England  to  ar 
range  for  the  new  church  were  received  with  scant 
courtesy  by  the  churches  when  request  was  made  that 
opportunity  be  given  to  hold  Church  of  England  serv 
ices  in  the  building  of  one  of  them. 

Not  satisfied  with  the  offer  of  a  room  in  the  Town 
House,  Governor  Andros  demanded  that  Old  South 
make  arrangements  to  accommodate  the  new  body.  On 
the  refusal  of  the  trustees  to  do  as  the  Governor  wished, 
the  sexton  of  the  church  was  one  day  ordered  to  ring 
the  bell  and  open  the  doors  for  the  Governor  and  his 
staff,  and  those  who  might  wish  to  attend  with  them. 
Then  the  trustees  submitted  to  the  inevitable. 

This  was  in  1687.  The  first  chapel  was  built  for  the 
new  congregation  in  1689,  on  land  appropriated  for 
the  purpose,  since  no  one  would  convey  a  site  willingly. 
This  building  was  enlarged  in  1710.  The  present  strik 
ing  structure  dates  from  1749-53.  Peter  Faneuil  was 
treasurer  of  the  committee  that  raised  the  necessary 


36          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

funds.  The  expense  was  but  £2,500,  though  granite 
from  the  new  Quincy  quarry  was  used.  The  colonnade 
surrounding  the  tower  was  not  built  until  1790. 

King's  Chapel,  as  the  new  church  building  came  to 
be  called,  was  known  as  the  abode  of  loyalists,  just  as 
Old  North  and  Old  South  were  famous  as  the  haunts 
of  patriotic  wrorshippers.  The  presence  on  the  walls 
of  the  insignia  of  royalty  and  varied  heraldic  devices 
seriously  disturbed  the  minds  of  those  who  felt  that 
a  house  of  worship  should  have  no  such  furnishings. 

During  the  Revolution  the  building  was  respected 
by  the  British  as  well  as  by  the  citizens  of  the  town. 
When  the  war  was  over,  the  congregation  of  Old  South 
was  invited  to  use  the  chapel  because  their  own  church 
needed  extensive  repairs  in  consequence  of  the  use  the 
British  had  made  of  it. 

Since  1787  King's  Chapel  has  been  a  Unitarian 
church.  The  change  was  made  under  the  leadership 
of  Rev.  James  Freeman. 


ELMWOOD,  CAMBRIDGE,  MASSACHUSETTS 

WHERE  JAMES  RUSSELL  LOWELL  WAS  BORN,  AND 
WHERE  HE  DIED 

When  Thomas  Oliver,  Lieutenant  Governor  and 
president  of  George  Ill's  provincial  council,  built  his 
house  in  Cambridge  about  1767,  he  did  not  dream  that 
within  nine  years  he  would  have  to  abandon  it  because 
of  his  allegiance  to  the  same  George  III.  But  so  it 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGKIMS  37 

proved.  He  was  a  Tory,  and  his  neighbors  would  not 
suffer  him  to  remain  among  them.  On  September  2, 
1774,  he  wrote  his  resignation  of  the  offices  he  held, 
adding  the  statement,  "  My  house  at  Cambridge  being 
surrounded  by  five  thousand  people,  in  compliance  with 
their  command,  I  sign  my  name."  At  his  request,  made 
to  General  Gage  and  the  admiral  of  the  English  fleet, 
troops  were  not  sent  to  Cambridge,  according  to  plan. 
"  But  for  Thomas  Oliver's  intercession,"  Edward  Ev 
erett  Hale  says,  "  Elmwood  would  have  been  the  battle 
ground  of  the  First  Encounters." 

After  his  summary  departure  the  house  was  used  as 
a  hospital  by  the  Continental  Army.  When  the  gov 
ernment  sold  it  at  auction  it  became  the  property  first 
of  Arthur  Cabot,  then  of  Elbridge  Gerry,  a  Signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Governor  of  Massa 
chusetts  from  1810  to  1812,  and  Vice-President  under 
Madison. 

The  next  occupant  was  Rev.  Charles  Lowell,  pastor 
of  the  West  Church  of  Boston.  He  bought  the  property 
just  in  time  to  make  it  ready  for  his  son,  James  Russell 
Lowell,  who  was  born  February  22,  1819. 

As  a  boy  James  never  wearied  of  rambling  over  the 
old  house  and  the  ten  acres  of  ground,  all  that  was  left 
of  the  original  ninety-five  acres.  Many  of  his  poems 
contain  references  to  the  memories  of  these  early  years. 
"  The  First  Snowfall,"  "  Music,"  and  "  A  Year's  Life  " 
are,  in  part,  autobiographical.  Lines  on  "  The  Power 
of  Music  "  told  of  the  days  when  he  was  his  father's 
companion  in  the  chaise,  on  the  way  to  make  a  Sunday 
exchange  of  pulpits  with  a  neighboring  minister: 

"  When,  with  feuds  like  Ghibelline  and  Guelf, 
Each  parish  did  its  music  for  itself, 


38          HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

A  parson's  son,  through  tree-arched  country  ways, 
I  rode  exchange  oft  in  dear  old  days, 
Ere  yet  the  boys  forgot,  with  reverent  eye, 
To  doff  their  hats  as  the  black  coat  went  by, 
Ere  skirts  expanding  in  their  apogee 
Turned  girls  to  bells  without  the  second  e; 
Still  in  my  teens,  I  felt  the  varied  woes 
Of  volunteers,  each  singing  as  he  chose, 
Till  much  experience  left  me  no  desire 
To  learn  new  species  of  the  village  choir." 

Life  at  Elmwood  was  interrupted  by  college  days, 
but  he  returned  to  the  Cambridge  house  with  his  wife, 
Maria  Lowell.  The  oldest  children  were  born  here. 
Here,  too,  came  the  first  great  sorrow  of  the  parents, 
the  death  of  their  first  born.  At  that  time  Mrs.  Lowell 
found  comfort  in  writing  "  The  Alpine  Sheep,77  a 
poem  that  has  helped  many  parents  in  a  like  time  of 
bereavement. 

The  next  great  sorrow  came  during  the  Civil  War, 
when  the  death  from  wounds  was  announced  first  of 
General  Charles  Russell  Lowell,  then  of  James  Jackson 
Lowell,  and  finally  of  William  Lowell  Putnam,  all  be 
loved  nephews.  In  the  Biglow  Papers,  Second  Series, 
the  poet  referred  to  these  three  soldiers.  Leslie  Stephen 
called  the  lines  "  the  most  pathetic  that  he  ever  wrote  " 
in  which  he  spoke  of  the  three  likely  lads, 

"Whose  comin'  step  ther'  's  ears  thet  won't, 
No,  not  lifelong,  leave  off  awaitinV 

During  the  closing  year  of  the  war,  one  of  the  stu 
dents  who  attended  his  lectures  on  Dante  at  Harvard 
College  wrote  of  a  visit  to  his  preceptor: 

"  I  found  the  serene  possessor  of  Elmwood  in  good 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          39 

spirits,  ate  a  Graham  biscuit  and  drank  some  delicious 
milk  with  him  and  his  wife,  then  enjoyed  a  very  pleas 
ant  conversation.  He  read  some  of  Shakspeare's  son 
nets,  to  make  me  think  better  of  them,  and  succeeded. 
.  .  .  He  gave  me  a  very  welcome  copy  of  Macaulay's 
essays  and  poems,  and  the  little  visit  was  another  oasis 
in  school  life's  dearth  of  home  sociability.  Mabel,  his 
only  child,  was  not  there  at  supper,  but  came  home 
some  time  after :  <  salute  your  progenitor ! '  and  the 
answer  was  a  daughter's  kiss." 

After  spending  years  abroad,  part  of  the  time  as 
Minister  to  Spain,  then  as  Minister  to  England,  Lowell 
returned  to  Elmwood.  To  a  friend  who  congratulated 
him  on  being  at  home  again,  he  said,  "  Yes,  it  is  very 
nice  here;  but  the  old  house  is  full  of  ghosts."  His 
cousin,  as  quoted  by  Dr.  Hale,  says  of  these  closing  six 
years  of  the  poet's  life: 

"  The  house  was  haunted  by  sad  memories,  but  at 
least  he  was  once  more  among  his  books.  The  library, 
which  filled  the  two  rooms  on  the  ground  floor  to  the 
left  of  the  front  door,  had  been  constantly  growing,  and 
during  his  stay  in  Europe  he  had  bought  rare  works 
with  the  intention  of  leaving  them  to  Harvard  College. 
Here  he  would  sit  when  sad  or  unwell  and  read  Cal- 
deron,  the  '  Nightingale  in  the  Study,'  whom  he  always 
found  a  solace.  Except  for  occasional  attacks  of  the 
gout,  his  life  had  been  singularly  free  from  sickness, 
but  he  had  been  at  home  only  a  few  months  when  he 
was  taken  ill,  and,  after  the  struggle  of  a  strong  man 
to  keep  up  as  long  as  possible,  he  was  forced  to  go  to 
bed.  In  a  few  days  his  condition  became  so  serious 
that  the  physician  feared  he  would  not  live;  but  he 
rallied,  and,  although  too  weak  to  go  to  England,  as 
he  had  planned,  he  appeared  to  be  comparatively  well. 
When  taken  sick,  he  had  been  preparing  a  new  edition 
of  his  works,  the  only  full  collection  that  had  ever  been 


40          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

made,  and  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  publishing  it  soon 
after  his  recovery.  This  was  the  last  literary  work  he 
was  destined  to  do,  and  it  rounded  off  fittingly  his  career 
as  a  man  of  letters.'' 

He  died  in  August,  1891,  when  he  was  seventy-two 
years  old. 

Elmwood  remains  in  the  possession  of  the  Lowell 
heirs.  The  ten  acres  of  the  poet's  boyhood  days  have 
been  reduced  to  two  or  three,  but  the  house  is  much  the 
same  as  when  the  POB*  Uved  in  it. 


VI 


THE  CRAIGIE  HOUSE,  CAMBRIDGE, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

MADE  FAMOUS  BY  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  AND 
HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW 

"Somewhat  back  from  the  village  street 
Stands  the  old-fashioned  country  seat. 
Across  its  antique  portico 
Tall  poplar-trees  their  shadows  throw; 
And  from  its  station  in  the  hall 
An  ancient  timepiece  says  to  all, — 

*  Forever,  never ! 

Never — forever.' " 

The  clock  of  which  Longfellow  wrote  stood  on  the 
stair-landing  of  the  old  Craigie  House,  Cambridge, 
Massachusetts,  which  he  bought  in  1843,  after  having 
occupied  it  a  number  of  years.  Here  he  wrote  the 
majority  of  his  poems.  Here,  one  June  day,  Nathaniel 
Hawthorne  dined  with  the  poet.  In  the  course  of 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          41 

conversation,  the  author  of  "  The  House  of  Seven 
Gables  "  told  Longfellow  the  heart-moving  story  of  the 
Acadian  maiden  who  was  separated  from  her  lover  by 
the  cruel  mandate  of  the  conquerors  of  Acadia,  and 
here  the  poem  was  written  that  told  the  story.  Here 
were  spent  days  of  gladness  with  friends  who  delighted 
to  enter  the  hospitable  door.  Here  the  poet  rejoiced 
in  his  home  with  the  children  of  whom  he  wrote  in 
"  The  Children's  Hour  " : 

"  Between  the  dark  and  the  daylight, 
When  the  night  is  beginning  to  lower, 
Comes  a  pause  in  the  day's  occupations, 
That  is  known  as  the  Children's  Hour." 

And  here,  one  sad  day  in  July,  1861,  Mrs.  Long 
fellow  was  so  severely  burned  that  she  died  the  next 
day.  This  great  sorrow  bore  rich  fruit  for  those  who 
loved  the  poet.  "  Above  the  grave  the  strong  man 
sowed  his  thoughts,  and  they  ripened  like  the  corn  in 
autumn,"  one  of  his  biographers  has  said. 

The  house  was  named  for  Andrew  Craigie,  who  be 
came  the  owner  of  the  property  in  1793.  He  had  given 
valuable  service  during  the  Revolutionary  War,  acting 
as  an  "  apothecary-general "  in  the  Continental  Army. 
He  was  a  man  of  wealth,  and  his  home  was  the  popular 
resort  for  people  of  note  from  all  parts  of  the  country. 
During  his  later  years  he  lost  all  his  money,  and  his 
widow  was  compelled  to  rent  rooms  to  Harvard  stu 
dents.  In  this  way  Edward  Everett  became  a  resident 
of  the  house. 

The  builder  of  the  mansion  was  John  Vassall.  In 
1760,  when  he  occupied  the  house,  it  was  surrounded 
by  a  park  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres.  Soon  after 


42          HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

the  beginning  of  the  war  he  went  to  Boston,  and  later 
he  removed  to  England,  for  his  sympathies  were  with 
the  Crown.  Accordingly,  in  1778,  the  property  was 
declared  forfeited  to  the  State. 

But  the  estate  really  became  public  property  three 
years  before  this,  when  a  regiment,  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  Glover,  pitched  its  tents  in  the  park.  In 
July,  1775,  Washington  made  the  house  his  headquar 
ters,  remaining  until  April  4,  1776. 

During  these  months  the  house  was  a  busy  place. 
Officers  gathered  here  both  for  business  and  for  pleas 
ure.  Military  conferences  and  court-martials  were  held 
in  the  large  room  in  the  second  story  which  was  later 
used  by  Longfellow  as  a  study.  Dinners  and  entertain 
ments  were  frequent;  these  provided  a  needed  safety 
valve  during  the  weeks  of  anxious  waiting  near  the 
British  line.  Mrs.  Washington  was  a  visitor  here,  thus 
giving  to  her  husband  the  taste  of  home  life  which  he 
was  unwilling  to  take  during  the  Revolution  by  making 
a  visit  to  his  estate  at  Mt.  Vernon. 

On  one  of  the  early  days  of  the  Commander-in-Chief  s 
occupancy  of  the  house,  he  wrote  this  entry  in  his  care 
fully-kept  account  book: 

"  July  15,  1775,  Paid  for  cleaning  the  House  which 
was  provided  for  my  Quarters,  and  which  had  been 
occupied  by  the  Marblehead  regiment,  £2  10s.  9d." 

The  day  before  this  entry  was  made  General  Green 
wrote  to  Samuel  Ward: 

"  His  Excellency,  General  Washington,  has  arrived 
amongst  us,  universally  admired.  Joy  was  visible  in 
every  countenance,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the  spirit  of 
conquest  breathed  through  the  whole  army.  I  hope  I 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          43 

shall  be  taught,  to  copy  his  example,  and  to  prefer  the 
love  of  liberty,  in  this  time  of  public  danger  to  all  the 
soft  pleasures  of  domestic  life,  and  support  ourselves 
with  manly  fortitude  amidst  all  the  dangers  and  hard 
ships  that  attend  a  state  of  war.  And  I  doubt  not, 
under  the  General's  wise  direction,  we  shall  establish 
such  excellent  order  and  strictness  of  discipline  as  to 
invite  victory  to  attend  him  wherever  he  goes." 

A  council  of  war  was  held  in  the  upstairs  room  on 
August.  3,  1775.  After  this  council  General  Sullivan 
wrote  to  the  New  Hampshire  Committee  of  Safety: 

"  To  our  great  surprise,  discovered  that  we  had  not 
powder  enough  to  furnish  half  a  pound  a  man,  ex 
clusive  of  what  the  people  have  in  their  homes  and 
cartridge  boxes.  The  General  was  so  struck  that  he 
did  not  utter  a  word  for  half  au  hour." 

Further  hints  of  the  serious  straits  caused  by  the 
lack  of  ammunition  were  contained  in  a  letter  of  Elias 
Boudinot.  He  said  that  at  the  time  there  were  fourteen 
miles  of  line  to  guard,  so  that  Washington  did  not  dare 
fire  an  Evening  or  Morning  Gun.  "  In  this  situation 
one  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  for  Massachusetts  .  .  . 
deserted  and  went  over  to  General  Gage,  and  discov 
ered  our  poverty  to  him.  The  fact  was  so  incredible, 
that  General  Gage  treated  it  as  a  stratagem  of  war, 
and  the  informant  as  a  Spy,  or  coming  with  the  express 
purpose  of  deceiving  him  &  drawing  his  Army  into  a 
Snare,  by  which  means  we  were  saved  from  having  our 
Quarters  beaten  up.  .  .  ." 

The  strange  inactivity  of  the  British  in  the  face  of 
the  unpreparedness  of  the  Continental  troops  was  re 
marked  in  a  letter  written  to  Congress  on  January  4, 
from  Headquarters: 


44          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

"  It  is  not  in  the  pages  of  history,  perhaps,  to  furnish 
a  case  like  ours.  To  maintain  a  post  within  niusket 
shot  of  the  enemy,  for  six  months  together,  without 
[powder],  and  at  the  same  time  to  disband  one  army, 
and  recruit  another,  within  that  distance  of  twenty  odd 
British  regiments,  is  more,  probably,  than  was  ever 
attempted." 

To-day  visitors  are  free  to  roam  through  the  rooms 
that  echoed  to  the  tread  of  Washington  and  his  gen 
erals,  in  which  the  children  played  in  Longfellow's  day, 
and  where  the  poet  wrote  so  many  of  his  messages  that 
have  gone  straight  to  the  hearts  of  millions. 


VII 

THE   ADAMS   HOUSES,    QUINCY,   MASSACHUSETTS 
WHERE  TWO  PRESIDENTS  WERE  BORN 

John  Adams  was  born  and  spent  his  boyhood  in 
a  simple  farmhouse  near  Brain  tree  (now  Quincy), 
Massachusetts.  It  has  been  described  as  a  "  plain, 
square,  honest  block  of  a  house,  widened  by  a  lean-to, 
and  scarcely  two  stories  high."  This  house,  built  in 
1681,  Daniel  Munro  Wilson  says  was  "  the  veritable 
roof-tree,  under  which  was  ushered  into  being  the 
earliest  and  strongest  advocate  of  independence,  the 
leader  whose  clear  intelligence  was  paramount  in  shap 
ing  our  free  institutions,  the  founder  of  a  line  of  states 
men,  legislators,  diplomats,  historians,  whose  patriotism 
is  a  passion,  and  whose  integrity  is  like  the  granite  of 
their  native  hills." 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS  45 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  John  Adams  and  John 
Hancock,  who  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  fight 
for  American  independence,  were  born  within  a  mile 
of  each  other,  on  days  only  a  little  more  than  a  year 
apart.  The  baptismal  records  show  that  October  19, 
1735,  was  the  birthday  of  John  Adams,  while  John 
Hancock  was  born  on  January  12,  1737. 

From  the  modest  home  in  Braintree  John  Adams 
went  to  college.  Later  he  taught  school  and  studied 
law.  Soon  after  he  returned  home  in  1758  he  wrote 
in  his  diary: 

"  Rose  at  sunrise,  unpitched  a  load  of  hay,  and  trans 
lated  two  more  leaves  of  Justinian." 

After  the  death  of  his  father,  in  1761,  the  burden 
of  the  home  fell  on  his  shoulders,  and  in  the  same  year 
he  was  called  to  serve  the  country.  His  diary  tells 
of  the  call : 

"  In  March,  when  I  had  no  suspicion,  I  heard  my 
name  pronounced  (at  town  meeting)  in  a  nomination 
of  surveyor  of  highways.  I  was  very  wroth,  because 
I  knew  better,  but  said  nothing.  My  friend,  Dr.  Savil, 
came  to  me  and  told  me  that  he  had  nominated  me  to 
prevent  me  from  being  nominated  as  a  constable. 
6  For/  said  the  doctor,  i  they  make  it  a  rule  to  compel 
every  man  to  serve  either  as  constable  or  surveyor,  or 
to  pay  a  fine.'  Accordingly,  I  went  to  ploughing  and 
ditching." 

Thus  John  Adams  showed  the  spirit  of  service  that 
later  animated  his  son,  John  Quincy  Adams,  who,  after 
he  had  been  President,  became  a  representative  in  Con 
gress,  and  made  answer  to  those  who  thought  such  an 
office  beneath  his  dignity,  "  An  ex-President  would  not 


46          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

be  degraded  by  serving  as  a  selectman  in  his  town  if 
elected  thereto  by  the  people." 

During  those  early  years  the  young  lawyer  had  other 
occupations  than  ditch-digging.  The  records  of  the 
family  show  that  he  was  assiduously  courting  Abigail 
Smith,  daughter  of  Rev.  William  Smith,  minister  in 
Weymouth,  near  by.  Probably  he  first  met  her  in  the 
historic  house,  for  she  was  a  frequent  visitor  there. 

The  marriage  of  the  young  people  on  October  25, 
1764,  excited  much  comment.  In  Puritan  New  Eng 
land  the  profession  of  the  law  was  not  a  popular  call 
ing,  and  many  of  the  people  thought  Abigail  Smith 
was  "  throwing  herself  away."  Parson  Smith  was  equal 
to  the  occasion;  as  he  had  helped  his  eldest  daughter 
out  of  a  similar  difficulty  by  preaching  on  the  text, 
"  And  Mary  hath  chosen  that  good  part,  which  shall 
not  be  taken  away  from  her,"  so,  on  the  Sunday  after 
Abigail's  marriage,  he  announced  the  text,  "  For  John 
.  .  .  came  neither  eating  bread  nor  drinking  wine;  and 
ye  say,  He  hath  a  devil." 

The  year  of  the  marriage  witnessed  the  beginning  of 
John  Adams'  fight  for  independence.  For  it  was  the 
year  of  the  iniquitous  Stamp  Act.  In  his  diary  he 
wrote : 

"  I  drew  up  a  petition  to  the  selectmen  of  Braintree, 
and  procured  it  to  be  signed  by  a  number  of  the  re 
spectable  inhabitants,  to  call  a  meeting  Cx  the  town  to 
instruct  their  representatives  in  relation  to  the  stamps." 

The  following  year,  when  a  meeting  was  held  in 
Braintree  to  take  action  in  consequence  of  the  failure 
of  Great  Britain  to  heed  the  protest  against  the  Stamp 
Act,  he  wrote: 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          47 

"  I  prepared  a  draught  of  instruction  at  home,  and 
carried  them  with  me.  The  cause  of  the  meeting  was 
explained  at  some  length,  and  the  state  and  danger  of 
the  country  pointed  out.  A  committee  was  appointed 
to  prepare  instructions,  of  which  I  was  nominated  as 
one.  My  draught  was  unanimously  adopted  without 
amendment,  reported  to  the  town,  and  accepted  with 
out  a  dissenting  voice.  .  .  .  They  rang  through  the 
state  and  were  adopted  in  so  many  words  ...  by  forty 
towns,  as  instructions  to  their  representatives.'' 

Less  than  two  years  later,  on  July  11,  1767,  in  the 
town  close  by  his  own  birthplace,  to  which  John  Adams 
had  taken  his  bride,  John  Quincy  Adams  was  born. 
The  delights  of  the  new  home  have  been  pictured  in  a 
pleasing  manner  by  Daniel  Munro  Wilson: 

"  Elevated  was  life  in  this  <  little  hut,'  but  it  was 
real,  genuine,  beautifully  domestic.  The  scene  of  it, 
visible  there  now  to  any  pious  pilgrim,  and  reverently 
preserved  in  many  of  its  antique  appointments  by  the 
Quincy  Historical  Society,  assists  the  imagination  to 
realize  its  noble  simplicity.  The  dining-room  or  gen 
eral  living  room,  with  its  wide  open  fireplace,  is  where 
the  young  couple  would  most  often  pass  their  evenings, 
and  in  winter  would  very  likely  occupy  in  measureless 
content  a  single  settle,  roasting  on  one  side  and  freezing 
on  the  other.  The  kitchen,  full  of  cheerful  bustle,  and 
fragrant  as  the  spice  isles,  how  it  would  draw  the  chil 
dren  as  they  grew  up,  the  little  John  Quincy  among 
them !  Here  they  could  be  near  mother,  and  watch  her 
with  absorbing  attention  as  she  superintended  the  cook 
ing,  now  hanging  pots  of  savory  meats  on  the  crane, 
and  now  drawing  from  the  cavernous  depths  of  the 
brick  oven  the  pies  and  baked  beans  and  Indian  pud 
dings  and  other  delicacies  of  those  days.  We  can  more 
easily  imagine  the  home  scene  when  we  read  these  words 
written  by  Mrs.  Adams  to  her  husband :  '  Our  son  is 


48          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

much  better  than  when  you  left  home,  and  our  daughter 
rocks  him  to  sleep  with  the  song  of  "  Come  papa,  come 
home  to  brother  Johnnie."  '  *  Johnnie  '  is  the  dignified 
President  and  '  old  man  eloquent '  that  is  to  be." 

When  it  became  evident  that  there  must  be  Revolu 
tion,  the  patriot  Adams  was  compelled  to  leave  his  fam 
ily  and  go  into  the  thick  of  the  fight.  He  did  not  want 
to  go.  "  I  should  have  thought  myself  the  happiest 
man  in  the  world  if  I  could  have  returned  to  my  little 
hut  and  forty  acres,  which  my  father  left  me  in  Brain- 
tree,  and  lived  on  potatoes  and  sea-weed  the  rest  of 
my  life.  But  I  had  taken  a  part,  I  had  adopted  a 
system,  I  had  encouraged  my  fellow  citizens,  and  I 
could  not  abandon  them  in  conscience  and  in  honor." 

From  the  old  home  Abigail  Adams  wrote  him  letters 
that  moved  him  to  renewed  efforts  for  his  struggling 
countrymen.  In  one  of  them  she  said,  "  You  cannot 
be,  I  know,  nor  do  I  wish  to  see  you,  an  inactive  spec 
tator;  but  if  the  sword  be  drawn,  I  bid  adieu  to  all 
domestic  felicity,  and  look  forward  to  that  country 
where  there  are  neither  wars  nor  rumors  of  war,  in 
a  firm  belief,  that  through  the  mercy  of  its  King  we 
shall  both  rejoice  there  together." 

The  wife  rejoiced  when  her  husband's  ringing  words 
helped  to  carry  the  Declaration  of  Independence;  she 
urged  him  to  make  the  trips  to  France  which  Congress 
asked  him  to  undertake;  she  encouraged  him  when  he 
was  Vice-President  and,  later,  President,  and  she  made 
home  more  than  ever  an  abode  of  peace  when,  in  1801, 
he  returned  to  Braintree,  to  a  house  of  Leonard  Vassall, 
built  in  1731,  which  he  bought  in  1785. 

In  this  house  husband  and  wife  celebrated  their 
golden  wedding,  as  John  Quincy  Adams  was  to  cele- 


CRAIGIE  HOUSE,  CAMBRIDGE,  MASS. 


Photo  by  Phi  ->.  Wallace,  Philadelphia 
See  page  40 


FERNSIDE  FARM,  IIAVERHILL,  MASS. 


Photo  by  Halliday  Historic  Photograph  Company 

See  page  54 


DUSTON  GARRISON  HOUSE,  HAVERHILL,  MASS 


hi/  \V.  R.  Merry  man,   JlaartiiU 
See  page  57 


HOYALL  HOUSE,   MEDFORD,  MASS. 


Photo  by  Ph.  B.  Wallace 
See  page  06 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGKIMS          49 

brate  his  golden  wedding  many  years  later.  Here,  for 
many  years,  the  son  enjoyed  being  with  the  mother  of 
whom  he  once  wrote: 

"  My  mother  was  an  angel  upon  earth.  She  was  a 
minister  of  blessings  to  all  human  beings  within  her 
sphere  of  action.  .  .  .  She  has  been  to  me  more  than 
a  mother.  She  has  been  a  spirit  from  above  watching 
over  me  for  good,  and  contributing  by  my  mere  con 
sciousness  of  her  existence  to  the  comfort  of  my  life. 
.  .  .  There  is  not  a  virtue  that  can  abide  in  the 
female  heart  but  it  was  the  ornament  of  hers." 

And  in  this  house  the  mother  died,  on  October  28, 
1818.  John  Quincy  Adams  lived  there  until  his  death, 
on  July  4,  1826. 


VIII 

THE  QUINCY  MANSION,  QUINCY,  MASSACHUSETTS 

THE  HOME  OF  THREE  DOROTHY  QUINCYS 

Among  the  settlers  to  whom  Boston  granted  large 
allotments  of  outlying  lands  were  William  Coddington 
and  Edmund  Quincy.  In  1635  they  went,  in  company 
with  their  associate  settlers,  to  "  the  mount,"  which 
became  Braintree,  now  Quincy. 

By  the  side  of  a  pleasant  brook,  under  the  shade  of 
spreading  trees,  Coddington  built  in  1636  his  house  of 
four  rooms.  Downstairs  was  the  kitchen  and  the  living 
room,  while  upstairs  were  two  bedrooms.  The  upper 
story  overhung  the  lower  in  the  old  manner,  and  a 
generous  chimney,  which  afforded  room  for  a  large  open 
fireplace,  dominated  the  whole. 


50          HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF,  AMERICA 

This  house  became  the  meeting  place  for  a  groap  of 
seekers  after  religious  liberty  who  were  looked  upon 
with  suspicion  in  Boston — Rev.  John  Wheelwright,  Sir 
Harry  Vane,  Atherton  Hough,  Ann  Hutchinson,  and 
others.  In  consequence  of  their  views  the  company 
was  soon  broken  up.  Ann  Hutchinson  and  Wheel 
wright  were  banished,  while  Coddington  would  have 
been  banished  if  he  had  not  gone  hastily  to  Rhode 
Island. 

Edmund  Quincy,  who  succeeded  to  Coddington's 
house,  probably  would  have  been  banished  if  he  had 
not  died  before  the  decree  could  be  pronounced.  For 
a  season  his  widow,  Judith,  lived  in  the  house,  which, 
from  that  time,  became  known  as  the  Quincy  Mansion. 
With  her  were  the  children,  Edmund  and  Judith. 
Judith,  who  married  at  twenty,  and  became  the  mother 
of  Hannah  (Betsy)  Hull,  whose  dowry,  when  she  be 
came  the  bride  of  Judge  Samuel  Sewell,  was  her  weight 
in  pine-tree  shillings,  the  gift  of  her  father,  the  master 
of  the  colony's  mint.  Florence  Royce  Davis  has  writ 
ten  of  the  wedding: 


Then  the  great  scales  were  brought,  amid  laughter  and  jest, 

And  Betsy  was  called  to  step  in  and  be  weighed; 
But  a  silence  fell  over  each  wondering  guest 
When  the  mint-master  opened  a  ponderous  chest 
And  a  fortune  of  shillings  displayed. 

By  handfuls  the  silver  was  poured  in  one  side 
Till  it  weighed  from  the  floor  blushing  Betsy,  the  bride; 
And  the  mint-master  called:   '  Prithee,  Sewell,  my  son, 
The  horses  are  saddled,  the  wedding  is  done; 
Behold  the  bride's  portion;  and  know  all  your  days 
Your  wife  is  well  worth  every  shilling  she  weighs.'  ' 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGEIMS          51 

Edmund  Quincy  married  at  twenty-one,  and  became 
the  next  occupant  of  the  mansion.  During  his  long 
life  there  were  welcomed  to  the  hospitable  roof  many 
of  those  whose  words  and  deeds  prepared  the  way  for 
the  liberty  that  was  to  come  to  the  country  within  a 
century. 

The  second  of  the  Quincy  line  was  a  leader  in  the 
town.  At  one  time  he  was  its  representative  in  the 
General  Court,  and  as  colonel  of  the  Suffolk  Eegiment, 
he  was  the  first  of  a  long  list  of  colonels  in  the  family. 
But  the  day  came  when  it  was  written  of  him,  "  Unkel 
Quincy  grows  exceeding  crazy,"  and  in  1698  the  second 
Edmund  yielded  the  house  to  Edmund  the  third. 

This  Edmund  also  became  a  colonel  and  a  repre 
sentative  and,  later,  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
His  pastor  said  of  him,  "  This  great  man  wras  of  a  manly 
Stature  and  Aspect,  of  a  Strong  Constitution  and  of 
Good  Courage,  fitted  for  any  Business  of  Life,  to  serve 
God,  his  King  and  Country."  Not  only  did  he  enlarge 
the  glory  of  the  family,  but,  in  1706,  he  enlarged  the 
house,  yet  in  such  a  way  that  the  original  Coddington 
house  could  be  clearly  traced  after  the  improvements 
were  finished.  Judge  Sewell,  the  cousin  of  the  builder, 
was  one  of  the  welcome  occupants  of  the  improved 
house.  On  his  way  to  Plymouth  he  stopped  at  "  Brain- 
try."  "  I  turned  in  to  Cousin  Quinsey,"  he  said,  "  where 
I  had  the  pleasure  to  see  God  in  his  Providence  shining 
again  upon  the  Persons  and  Affairs  of  the  Family  after 
long  distressing  Sickness  and  Losses.  Lodged  in  the 
chamber  next  the  Brooke."  Later  on  another  chamber 
near  the  brook  was  provided  for  Mrs.  Quincy's  brother, 
Tutor  Flynt  of  Harvard,  when  he  came  that  way  for 
rest  and  change. 


52  HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Tlie  oldest  child  of  this  generation  was  Edmund, 
whose  daughter,  Dorothy  Quincy,  married  John  Han 
cock,  while  the  fourth  child  was  Dorothy  Quincy,  the 
great-grandmother  of  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 

The  continuity  of  life  at  the  mansion  was  sadly 
broken  when,  within  a  year,  the  grandmother,  the 
mother,  and  the  father  died.  The  death  of  the  latter 
occurred  in  England,  where  he  had  gone  on  business 
for  the  colony.  When  news  came  of  the  ending  of 
his  life,  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  declared 
that  "  he  departed  the  delight  of  his  own  people,  but 
of  none  more  than  the  Senate,  who,  as  a  testimony  of 
their  love  and  gratitude,  have  ordered  this  epitaph  to 
be  inscribed  on  his  tomb  in  Bunhill  Fields,  London." 

For  a  year  Dorothy  Quincy  remained  in  the  house; 
but  on  her  marriage  the  place  ceased  for  a  time  to  be 
the  chief  residence  of  a  Quincy.  Edmund  was  in  busi 
ness  in  Boston.  He  resorted  to  the  house  for  a  season 
now  and  then,  but  his  Boston  home  remained  his  perma 
nent  abiding  place  until  after  the  birth  of  his  daughter 
Dorothy.  Then  failing  fortune  sent  him  back  to  the 
ancestral  home. 

During  the  next  few  years  John  Adams,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  and  John  Hancock  were  favored  visitors  at 
the  mansion.  John  Hancock  won  Dorothy  Quincy  for 
his  bride,  and  family  tradition  says  that  preparations 
were  made  for  the  wedding  in  the  old  home.  "  The 
large  north  parlor  was  adorned  with  a  new  wall  paper, 
express  from  Paris,  and  appropriately  figured  with  the 
forms  of  Venus  and  Cupid  in  blue,  and  pendant  wreaths 
of  flowers  in  red,"  writes  the  author  of  "  Where  Ameri 
can  Independence  Began."  But  the  approaching  Revo 
lution  interfered.  The  bridegroom  hurried  away  to 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          53 

Boston  and  then  to  Lexington.  Dorothy,  under  the  care 
of  Mrs.  Hancock,  the  mother  of  John  Hancock,  also 
went  to  Lexington  on  April  18,  1775,  the  very  day  when 
Paul  Revere  aroused  the  patriots,  and  Hancock  was 
once  more  compelled  to  flee  for  his  life.  Four  months 
later,  at  Fairfield,  Connecticut,  the  lovers  were  married. 

The  old  mansion  was  never  again  the  home  of  the 
Quincys.  Josiah,  brother  of  Edmund  the  fourth,  built 
for  himself  in  1770  a  beautiful  home  not  far  from  the 
family  headquarters.  Here  he  lived  through  the  war. 
Visitors  to  the  house  are  shown  on  one  of  the  windows 
the  record  he  made  of  the  departure  of  the  British  from 
Boston  Harbor,  scratched  there  when  he  saw  the  wel 
come  sight,  on  October  17,  1775. 

For  much  more  than  a  century  the  house  was  in  the 
hands  of  other  families,  but,  fortunately,  it  has  come 
under  the  control  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of  Massachu 
setts.  They  have  made  it  the  historic  monument  it 
deserves  to  be.  The  visitors  who  are  privileged  to 
wander  through  the  rooms  hallowed  by  the  presence 
of  men  and  women  who  helped  to  pave  the  way  for 
American  independence  read  with  hearty  appreciation 
the  lines  which  Holmes  addressed  to  the  portrait  of  his 
ancestress,  "  My  Dorothy  Q,"  as  he  called  her : 

"  Grandmother's  mother:  her  age,  I  guess 
Thirteen  summers,  or  something  less; 
Girlish  bust,  but  womanly  air; 
Smooth,   square  forehead,  with  uprolled  hair; 
Lips  that  lover  has  never  kissed, 
Taper  fingers  and  slender  wrist; 
Hanging  sleeves  of  stiff  brocade; 
So  they  painted  the  little  maid." 


54          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

IX 

FERNSIDE  FARM,  HAVERHILL,  MASSACHUSETTS 

THE  BIRTHPLACE  AND  BOYHOOD  HOME  OF 
JOHN  G.  WHITTIER 

The  first  house  built  by  Thomas  Whittier,  the  three- 
hundred-pound  ancestor  of  the  poet  Whittier,  and  first 
representative  of  the  family  in  America,  was  a  little 
log  cabin.  There  he  took  his  wife,  Ruth  Flint,  and 
there  ten  children  were  born.  Five  of  them  were  boys, 
and  each  of  them  was  more  than  six  feet  tall. 

No  wonder  the  log  house  grew  too  small  for  the 
family.  So,  probably  in  1688,  he  built  a  house  whose 
massive  hewn  beams  were  fifteen  inches  square,  whose 
kitchen  was  thirty  feet  long,  with  a  fireplace  eight  feet 
wide.  The  rooms  clustered  about  a  central  chimney. 

In  this  house  the  poet  was  born  December  17,  1807, 
and  here  he  spent  the  formative  years  of  his  life.  When 
he  was  twenty-seven  years  old  he  wrote  for  The  Little 
Pilgrim  of  Philadelphia  a  paper  on  "  The  Fish  I  Didn't 
Catch."  In  this  he  described  the  home  of  his  boyhood : 

"  Our  old  homestead  nestled  under  a  long  range  of 
hills  which  stretched  off  to  the  west.  It  was  surrounded 
by  woods  in  all  directions  save  to  the  southeast,  where 
a  break  in  the  leafy  wall  revealed  a  vista  of  low,  green 
meadows,  picturesque  with  wooded  islands  and  jutting 
capes  of  upland.  Through  these,  a  small  brook,  noisy 
enough  as  it  foamed,  rippled  and  laughed  down  its  rocky 
falls  by  our  garden-side,  wound,  silently  and  scarcely 
visible,  to  a  still  larger  stream,  known  as  the  Country 
Brook.  This  brook  in  its  time,  after  doing  duty  at  two 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          55 

or  three  saw  and  grist  mills,  the  clack  of  which  we 
could  hear  across  the  intervening  woodlands,  found  its 
way  to  the  great  river,  and  the  river  took  it  up  and 
bore  it  down  to  the  great  sea." 

Whittier's  poems  are  full  of  references  to  the  life  on 
the  farm ;  many  of  his  best  verses  had  their  inspiration 
in  memories  of  the  past.  For  instance,  the  description 
of  the  building  of  the  fire  in  "  Snow-Bound,"  a  poem 
which  describes  the  life  at  the  farm  when  he  was  twelve 
years  old,  is  a  faithful  picture  of  what  took  place  in 
the  old  kitchen  every  night  of  the  long  New  England 
winter,  when 

"  We  piled,  with  care,  our  nightly  stack 
Of  wood  against  the  chimney  back — 
The  oaken  log,  green,  huge  and  thick, 
And  on  its  top  the  thick  back-stick; 
The  knotty  fore-stick  laid  apart, 
And  filled  between  with  curious  art. 
The  ragged  brush;  then,  hovering  near, 
We  watched  the  first  red  blaze  appear, 
Heard  the  sharp  crackle,  caught  the  gleam 
On  whitewashed  wall  and  sagging  beam, 
Until  the  old,  rude-fashioned  room 
Burst,  flower-like,  into  rosy  bloom." 

Young  Whittier  was  a  faithful  worker  on  the  farm. 
One  day,  when  he  was  nineteen  years  old,  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  the  young  editor  of  a  Newburyport  news 
paper,  to  which  Whittier  had  contributed  a  poem,  found 
him  assisting  in  repairing  a  stone  wall.  The  visitor 
urged  the  father  of  the  young  poet  to  send  him  to  school. 
As  a  result  of  this  visit  Whittier  entered  the  Academy 
in  Haverhill,  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to 
earn  his  way. 


56          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

At  intervals  during  the  succeeding  ten  years  the  poet 
returned  to  the  old  farm,  but  when  he  was  thirty  years 
old  the  place  was  sold,  the  family  went  to  Amesbury, 
and  he  left  soon  afterward  for  Philadelphia,  where  he 
was  to  edit  an  anti-slavery  paper. 

All  through  life  Whittier  dreamed  of  buying  back 
the  homestead.  When  he  received  a  check  for  $1,000 
as  the  first  proceeds  from  "  Snow-Bound,"  he  set  the 
sum  aside  as  the  beginning  of  a  redemption  fund. 

But  the  citizens  of  Haverhill,  led  by  Alfred  A.  Ord- 
way,  asked  the  privilege  of  buying  the  property  them 
selves,  and  making  it  a  memorial  to  the  poet.  Whittier 
died  before  the  purchase  was  completed,  but  soon  after 
ward  Fernside  Farm,  as  the  poet  called  it,  was  taken 
over  by  Mr.  Ordway.  It  is  now  in  the  hands  of  an 
association  that  has  restored  it  and  keeps  it  open  to 
visitors  whose  hearts  have  been  stirred  by  the  work 
of  the  Quaker  poet. 


THE  DUSTON  GARRISON  HOUSE,  HAVERHILL, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

FROM  WHICH  HANNAH  DUSTON  WAS  CARRIED  AWAY 
BY  THE  INDIANS 

The  attention  of  visitors  to  Haverhill,  Massachusetts, 
is  attracted  to  a  great  granite  boulder  set  in  a  place  of 
honor  in  the  old  town.  When  they  ask  about  it  they 
are  told  the  story  of  Hannah  Duston,  heroine. 

Thomas  and  Hannah  Duston  were  married  in  1677, 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGEIMS          57 

and  at  once  built  a  humble  house  of  imported  brick  on 
the  spot  where  the  boulder  now  stands.  Frequently 
one  of  the  bricks  is  uncovered  on  the  site;  those  who 
examine  it  marvel  at  the  thought  of  the  building  mate 
rial  brought  across  the  sea. 

Later  Thomas  Duston  uncovered  deposits  of  clay  near 
his  home  which  led  him  to  make  experiments  in  brick 
making.  He  was  so  successful  that  his  product  was 
in  demand;  villagers  said  that  the  Haverhill  bricks 
were  fully  as  good  as  those  brought  from  England. 

Strong  building  material  was  needed,  for  hostile  In 
dians  were  all  about.  In  order  to  afford  protection 
against  them,  Mr.  Duston  determined  to  build  a  new 
house,  which  should  serve  as  a  garrison  in  time  of  dan 
ger.  By  the  village  authorities  he  was  appointed 
keeper  of  the  garrison,  as  this  commission  shows: 

"  To  Thomas  Duston,  upon  the  settlement  of  garri 
sons.  You  being  appointed  master  of  the  garrison  at 
your  house,  you  are  hereby  in  his  Maj's  name,  required 
to  see  that  a  good  watch  is  kept  at  your  garrison  both 
by  night  and  by  day  by  those  persons  hereafter  named 
who  are  to  be  under  your  command  and  inspection  in 
building  or  repairing  your  garrison,  and  if  any  person 
refuse  or  neglect  their  duty,  you  are  accordingly  re 
quired  to  make  return  of  the  same,  under  your  hand  to 
the  Committee  of  militia  in  Haverhill.7' 

The  new  house  was  well  under  way  when  this  com 
mand  was  given.  As  it  is  still  standing,  it  is  possible 
to  tell  of  its  construction.  A  Haverhill  writer  says 
that  "  white  oak,  which  is  to-day  well  preserved,  was 
used  in  its  massive  framework,  and  the  floor  and  roof 
timbers  are  put  together  with  great  wooden  pins.  In 


58          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

early  days  the  windows  swung  outward,  and  the 
glass  was  very  thick,  and  set  into  the  frames  with 
lead." 

On  March  15,  1697,  the  watching  Indians  decided 
that  their  opportunity  had  come  to  attack  the  village. 
They  knew  that  if  they  waited  for  the  completion  of 
the  newr  garrison,  there  would  be  little  chance  of  suc 
cess.  So  they  struck  at  once. 

The  story  of  what  followed  was  told  by  Cotton 
Mather,  in  his  "  Magnalia  Christi  Americana,"  pub 
lished  in  London  in  1702 : 

"  On  March  15,  1697,  the  Salvages  made  a  Descent 
upon  the  Skirts  of  Haverhil,  Murdering  and  Captiving 
about  Thirty-nine  Persons,  and  Burning  about  half  a 
Dozen  Houses.  In  the  Broil,  one  Hannah  Dustan  hav 
ing  lain-in  about  a  Week,  attended  with  her  Nurse, 
Mary  Neffe  a  Widow,  a  Body  of  terrible  Indians  drew 
near  unto  the  House  wrhere  she  lay,  with  Design  to 
carry  on  their  Bloody  Devastations.  Her  Husband 
hastened  from  his  Employment  abroad  unto  the  relief 
of  his  Distressed  Family;  and  first  bidding  Seven  of 
his  Eight  Children  (which  were  from  Two  to  Seventeen 
Years  of  Age)  to  get  away  as  fast  as  they  could  into 
some  Garrison  in  the  Town,  he  went  in  to  inform  his 
Wife  of  the  horrible  Distress  come  upon  them.  E'er 
he  could  get  up,  the  fierce  Indians  were  got  so  near, 
that  utterly  despairing  to  do  her  any  Service,  he  ran 
out  after  his  Children.  .  .  .  He  overtook  his  children 
about  Forty  Rod  from  his  Door,  ...  a  party  of  In 
dians  came  up  with  him;  and  now  though  they  Fired 
at  him,  and  he  Fired  at  them,  yet  he  Manfully  kept  at 
the  Reer  of  his  Little  Army  of  Unarmed  Children,  while 
they  Marched  off  with  the  Pace  of  a  Child  of  Five  Years 
Old;  until,  by  the  Singular  Providence  of  God,  he  ar 
rived  safe  with  them  all  unto  a  Place  of  Safety  about 
a  Mile  or  two  from  his  House.  .  .  . 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          59 

"  The  Nurse,  trying  to  escape  with  the  New-born  In 
fant,  fell  into  the  Hands  of  the  Formidable  Salvages; 
and  those  furious  Tawnies  coming  into  the  House,  bid 
poor  Dustan  to  rise  immediately.  .  .  . 

"  Dustan  (with  her  Nurse)  .  .  .  travelled  that  Night 
about  a  Dozen  Miles,  and  then  kept  up  with  their  New 
Masters  in  a  long  Travel  of  an  Hundred  and  Fifty 
Miles.  .  .  . 

"  The  poor  Women  had  nothing  but  Fervent  Prayers 
to  make  their  Lives  Comfortable  or  Tolerable,  and  by 
being  daily  sent  out  upon  Business,  they  had  Oppor 
tunities  together  and  asunder  to  do  like  another  Han 
nah,  in  pouring  out  their  Souls  before  the  Lord." 

The  Indians  were  "  now  Travelling  with  these  Two 
Captive  Women,  (and  an  English  Youth  taken  from 
Worcester  a  Year  and  half  before,)  unto  a  Rendez- 
vouz  of  Salvages  which  they  call  a  Town  somewhere 
beyond  Penacook ;  and  they  still  told,  these  poor  Women, 
that  when  they  came  to  this  Town  they  must  be  Stript, 
and  Scourged,  and  Run  the  Gantlet  through  the  whole 
Army  of  Indians.  They  said  this  was  the  Fashion 
when  the  Captives  first  came  to  a  Town;  .  .  . 

"  But  on  April  30,  while  they  were  yet,  it  may  be, 
about  an  Hundred  and  Fifty  Miles  from  the  Indian 
Town,  a  little  before  break  of  Day,  when  the  whole  Crew 
was  in  a  Dead  Sleep  .  .  .  one  of  these  Women  took  up 
a  Resolution  to  intimate  the  Action  of  Jael  upon  Sisera ; 
and  being  where  she  had  not  her  own  Life  secured  by 
any  Law  unto  her,  she  thought  she  was  not  forbidden 
by  any  Law  to  take  away  the  Life  of  the  Murderers. 
.  .  .  She  heartened  the  Nurse  and  the  Youth  to  assist 
her  in  this  Enterprize;  and  all  furnishing  themselves 
with  Hatchets  for  the  purpose,  they  struck  such  home 
Blows  upon  the  Heads  of  their  Sleeping  Oppressors, 
that  e'er  they  could  any  of  them  struggle  into  any 
effectual  resistance,  at  the  Feet  of  those  poor  Prisoners, 
they  bow'd,  they  fell,  they  lay  down ;  at  their  Feet  they 
bowed,  they  fell;  where  they  bowed,  there  they  fell 
down  Dead." 


60          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

One  old  squaw  and  a  boy  of  eleven  escaped  to  the 
forest.  The  scalps  were  not  taken  at  first,  but  soon 
Hannah  Duston  returned  to  the  camp  and  gathered 
the  trophies,  in  order  that  she  might  claim  the  bounty 
offered  by  the  colony  for  the  scalps  of  hostile  Indians. 
Then  all  the  Indians'  canoes  were  scuttled,  their  arms 
were  taken,  and  the  party  of  three  embarked. 

Day  after  day  they  paddled  down  the  Merrimac,  the 
three  taking  turns  in  the  unaccustomed  labour.  At 
night  they  paused  to  rest.  Cautiously  a  fire  was  kin 
dled,  and  food  was  cooked.  Always  they  feared  dis 
covery  by  the  bands  of  Indians.  Two  slept,  while  a 
third  stood  guard.  But  no  Indians  appeared. 

At  last  the  home  village  was  in  sight.  The  wonder 
ing  villagers  came  out  to  see  who  the  visitors  could  be. 
Their  astonishment  and  delight  can  be  imagined. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  voted  Mrs. 
Duston  twenty-five  pounds'  reward,  while  a  similar 
amount  was  divided  between  Mrs.  Neff  and  the  boy 
Samuel  Lennardson.  Later  the  governor  of  Maryland 
sent  Mrs.  Duston  a  silver  tankard. 

The  Duston  descendants,  who  hold  a  reunion  every 
year,  prize  these  souvenirs.  But  most  of  all  they  prize 
a  letter  (the  original  of  which  is  in  the  possession  of 
the  Haverhill  Historical  Society)  written  by  Mrs.  Dus 
ton  in  1723,  in  which  she  gave  a  wonderful  testimony 
to  God's  goodness  to  her  and  hers.  This  is  the  message 
she  gave  to  children  and  grandchildren : 

"I  Desire  to  be  thankful  that  I  was  born  in  a  Land 
of  Light  &  Baptized  when  I  was  young  and  had  a  good 
education  by  my  ^Father,  tho'  I  took  but  little  notice 
of  it  in  the  time  of  it — I  am  Thankful  for  my  Captivity, 
'twas  the  Comfortablest  time  that  ever  I  had.  In  my 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          61 

Affliction  God  made  his  Word  Comfortable  to  me.  I 
remember  ye  43  ps.  ult.  [probably  meaning  last  part] 
and  those  words  came  to  my  mind — ps.  118 :17 — I  have 
had  a  great  Desire  to  Come  to  the  Ordinance  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  a  Great  while,  but  fearing  I  should  give 
offense  and  fearing  my  own  Unworthiness  has  kept  me 
back.  Reading  a  Book  concerning  X's  Sufferings  Did 
much  awaken  me.  In  the  55th  of  Isa.  beg  [beginning] 
We  are  invited  to  come:  Hearing  Mr.  Moody  preach 
out  of  ye  3rd  of  Mai.  3  last  verses  it  put  me  upon  Con 
sideration.  Ye  llth  of  Matt.,  ending,  has  been  encour 
aging  to  me — I  have  been  resolving  to  offer  my  Self 
from  time  to  time  ever  since  the  Settlement  of  the  pres 
ent  Ministry.  I  was  awakened  by  the  first  Sacraml 
Sermon  [Luke  14:17],  But  Delays  and  fears  prevailed 
upon  me:  But  I  desire  to  Delay  no  longer,  being  Sen 
sible  it  is  my  Duty — I  desire  the  Church  to  receive  me 
tho'  it  be  the  Eleventh  hour;  and  pray  for  me  that  I 
may  honer  God  and  receive  the  Salvation  of  My  Soul. 
"  Hannah  Duston,  wife  of  Thomas.  ^Etat  67." 

Mrs.  Duston  lived  in  the  old  house  at  Haverhill  for 
many  years  after  her  remarkable  escape. 


XI 

THE  OLD  MANSE  AND  THE  WAYSIDE,  CONCORD, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

TWO  HOUSES  MADE  FAMOUS  BY  NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 

Nathaniel  Hawthorne  was  thirty-eight  years  old  be 
fore  he  was  able  to  begin  the  ideal  life  of  Adam  with 
his  Eve,  to  which  he  had  looked  forward  for  many 
years. 

"  I  want  a  little  piece  of  land  that  I  can  call  my 


62          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

own,  big  enough  to  stand  upon,  big  enough  to  be  buried 
in,"  he  said  to  a  friend  when  he  was  thirty-four  years 
old.  Lack  of  money  delayed  the  realization,  but  it  is 
a  curious  fact  that  the  marriage  to  Sophia  Peabody 
took  place  just  after  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  the 
thousand  dollars  he  had  invested  in  the  Emerson  Brook 
Farm  experiment  was  gone  forever. 

The  marriage  took  place  July  9,  1842,  and  house 
keeping  was  at  once  begun  in  the  Old  Manse  at  Con 
cord,  which  was  built  in  1765  by  Emerson's  grandfather. 
But  he  was  merely  a  renter;  his  dream  of  ownership 
was  to  be  delayed  ten  years  longer.  The  great  rooms 
of  the  curious  gambrel-roofed  house  were  rather  bare, 
and  there  was  a  scarcity  of  everything  except  love,  yet 
the  author  and  his  bride  found  nothing  but  joy  in  the 
retired  garden  and  the  dormer-windowed  house. 

Hawthorne's  own  charming  description  of  the  house 
and  grounds  is  so  attractive  that  the  reader  wishes  to 
visit  them: 

"  Between  two  tall  gateposts  of  rough-hewn  stone 
(the  gate  itself  having  fallen  from  its  hinges  at  some 
unknown  epoch),  we  beheld  the  grey  front  of  the  old 
parsonage  terminating  the  vista  of  an  avenue  of  black 
ash  trees.  It  was  now  a  twelvemonth  since  the  funeral 
procession  of  the  venerable  clergyman,  the  last  in 
habitant,  had  turned  from  that  gateway  toward  the 
village  burying  ground.  .  .  . 

"  Nor,  in  truth,  had  the  old  manse  ever  been  profaned 
by  a  lay  occupant  until  that  memorable  summer  after 
noon  when  I  entered  it  as  my  home.  A  priest  had  built 
it;  a  priest  had  succeeded  to  it;  other  priestly  owners 
from  time  to  time  had  dwelt  in  it;  and  children  born 
in  the  chambers  had  grown  up  to  assume  the  priestly 
character.  It  was  awful  to  recollect  how  many  sermons 
must  have  been  written  there.  The  latest  inhabitant 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          63 

there — lie  by  whose  translation  to  paradise  the  dwelling 
was  left  vacant — had  penned  nearly  three  thousand  dis 
courses.  .  .  .  How  often,  no  doubt,  had  he  paced  along 
the  avenue,  attuning  his  meditations  to  sighs  and  gentle 
murmurs,  and  deep  and  solemn  peals  of  the  wind  among 
the  leafy  tops  of  the  trees!  ...  I  took  shame  to  my 
self  for  having  been  so  long  a  writer  of  idle  stories,  and 
ventured  to  hope  that  wisdom  would  descend  upon  me 
with  the  falling  leaves  of  the  autumn,  and  that  I  should 
light  upon  an  intellectual  treasure  in  the  Old  Manse 
well  worth  those  hoards  of  long-hidden  gold  which 
people  seek  for  in  moss-grown  houses." 

Two  years  after  their  marriage,  Mrs.  Hawthorne 
wrote  to  her  mother : 

"  I  have  no  time,  as  you  may  imagine.  I  am  baby's 
tire- woman,  hand-maiden,  and  tender,  as  well  as  nurs 
ing  mother.  My  husband  relieves  me  with  her  con 
stantly,  and  gets  her  to  sleep  beautifully.  .  .  .  The 
other  day,  when  my  husband  saw  me  contemplating 
an  appalling  vacuum  in  his  dressing-gown,  he  said  he 
was  a  man  of  the  largest  rents  in  the  country,  and  it 
was  strange  he  had  not  more  ready  money.  .  .  .  But, 
somehow  or  other,  I  do  not  care  much,  because  we  are 
so  happy." 

Hawthorne  did  much  of  his  work  in  the  rear  room 
where  Emerson  wrote.  In  the  introduction  to  "  Mosses 
from  an  Old  Manse  "  he  said  of  this  apartment : 

"  When  I  first  saw  the  room,  the  walls  were  blackened 
with  the  smoke  of  unnumbered  years,  and  made  still 
blacker  by  the  grim  prints  of  Puritan  ministers,  that 
hung  around.  .  .  .  The  rain  pattered  upon  the  roof  and 
the  sky  gloomed  through  the  dirty  garret  windows  while 
I  burrowed  among  the  venerable  books  in  search  of  any 
living-  thought." 


64          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

From  his  writing  Hawthorne  turned  easily  to  wan 
dering  in  the  garden  or  rowing  on  the  river  or  helping 
his  wife  about  the  house.  "  We  had  a  most  enchanting- 
time  during  Mary  the  cook's  holiday  sojourn  in  Boston," 
Mrs.  Hawthorne  wrote  at  one  time.  "  We  remained  in 
our  bower  undisturbed  by  mortal  creature.  Mr.  Haw 
thorne  took  the  new  phases  of  housekeeper,  and,  with 
that  marvellous  power  of  adaptation  to  circumstances 
that  he  possesses,  made  everything  go  easily  and  well. 
He  rose  betimes  in  the  mornings  and  kindled  fires  in 
the  kitchen  and  breakfast  room,  and  by  the  time  I  came 
down  the  tea-kettle  boiled  and  potatoes  were  baked  and 
rice  cooked,  and  my  lord  sat  with  a  book  superintend 
ing." 

Poverty  put  an  untimely  end  to  life  at  the  Old  Manse. 
The  years  from  1846  to  1852  were  spent  in  Boston  and 
Salem.  In  1852  Hawthorne  was  able  to  buy  a  dilapi 
dated  old  house  at  Concord,  which  he  called  The  Way 
side.  Here  he  remained  until  his  appointment  in  1853 
as  American  Consul  at  Liverpool,  and  to  it  he  returned 
after  long  wandering. 

The  Wayside  had  been  the  home  of  Bronson  Alcott. 
Here  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hawthorne  made  their  second  real 
home.  They  rejoiced  as,  a  little  at  a  time,  they  were 
able  to  improve  the  property,  and  they  showed  always 
that  they  knew  the  secret  of  finding  happiness  in  the 
midst  of  privations. 

Hawthorne  described  his  new  abode  for  his  friend, 
George  William  Curtis: 

"  As  for  my  old  house,  you  will  understand  it  better 
after  spending  a  day  or  two  in  it.  Before  Mr.  Alcott 
took  it  in  hand,  it  was  a  mean-looking  affair,  with  two 
peaked  gables ;  no  suggestion  about  it  and  no  venerable- 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          65 

ness,  although  from  the  style  of  its  architecture  it  seems 
to  have  survived  bej^ond  its  first  century.  He  added 
a  porch  in  front,  and  a  central  peak,  and  a  piazza  at 
each  end,  and  painted  it  a  rusty  olive  hue,  and  invested 
the  whole  with  a  modest  picturesqueness ;  all  which  im 
provements,  together  with  the  situation  at  the  foot  of 
a  wooded  hill,  make  it  a  place  that  one  notices  and  re 
members  for  a  few  minutes  after  passing  it.  ... 

"  The  house  stands  within  ten  or  fifteen  feet  of  the 
old  Boston  road  (along  which  the  British  marched  and 
retreated),  divided  from  it  by  a  fence,  and  some  trees 
and  shrubbery  of  Mr.  Alcott's  setting  out.  Wherefore 
I  have  called  it  <  The  Wayside,'  which  I  think  a  better 
name  and  more  morally  suggestive  than  that  which, 
as  Mr.  Alcott  has  since  told  me,  he  bestowed  on  it, 
<  The  Hillside.'  In  front  of  the  house,  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  road,  I  have  eight  acres  of  land, — the  only 
valuable  portion  of  the  place  in  a  farmer's  eye,  and 
which  are  capable  of  being  made  very  fertile.  On  the 
hither  side,  my  territory  extends  some  little  distance 
over  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and  is  absolutely  good  for 
nothing,  in  a  productive  point  of  view,  though  very 
good  for  many  other  purposes. 

"  I  know  nothing  of  the  history  of  the  house,  except 
Thoreau's  telling  me  that  it  was  inhabited  a  generation 
or  two  ago  by  a  man  who  believed  he  should  never  die. 
I  believe,  however,  he  is  dead;  at  least,  I  hope  so;  else 
he  may  probably  appear  and  dispute  my  title  to  his 
residence." 


In  furnishing  the  house  Mrs.  Hawthorne  took  keen 
pleasure  in  putting  the  best  of  everything  in  her  hus 
band's  study.  She  called  it  "  the  best  room,  the  temple 
of  the  Muses  and  the  Delphic  shrine." 

In  these  surroundings,  supported  by  a  wife  who  wor 
shipped  him,  Hawthorne  wrote  until  the  call  came  to 
go  to  England.  It  was  1860  before  he  returned  to  The 


66          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Wayside.  There  he  hoped  to  end  his  life,  but  death 
overtook  him  at  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  while  he 
was  making  a  tour  of  New  England  with  Franklin 
Pierce.  Mrs.  Hawthorne  survived  him  seven  years. 


XII 

THE  ROYALL  HOUSE,  MEDFORD,  MASSACHUSETTS 

FROM  WHOSE  ROOF  MOLLY  STARK  SIGNALLED  TO 
HER  HUSBAND 

One  who  is  familiar  with  the  old  plantation  houses 
of  Virginia  is  tempted  to  rub  his  eyes  when  he  first 
sees  the  Royall  House  at  Medford,  Massachusetts,  for 
this  relic  of  Colonial  days  has  the  outbuildings,  the 
slave-quarters,  and  other  characteristics  of  so  many 
Virginia  houses.  True,  it  has  not  the  low  wings  and 
the  stately  columns  at  the  entrance,  but  the  doorway 
is  so  chaste  and  dignified  that  this  is  not  felt  to  be  a 
lack.  Those  who  enter  the  doorway  and  walk  rever 
ently  through  the  rooms  of  what  has  been  called  the 
finest  specimen  of  colonial  architecture  in  the  vicinity 
of  Boston,  are  filled  anew  with  admiration  for  the 
builders  of  another  day  who  chose  the  finest  white  pine 
for  their  work,  and  would  not  dream  of  scamping  any 
where.  Evidently  there  was  little  need  in  those  days 
of  the  services  of  an  inspector  to  see  that  the  terms  of 
a  contract  were  carried  out. 

The  history  of  the  property  goes  back  to  1631,  when 
Governor  John  Winthrop,  the  first  governor  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  who  served  for  nineteen 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          67 

years,  secured  a  grant  to  the  farm  on  which,  within 
six  or  seven  years,  the  original  dormer- win  do  wed  Royall 
House  was  built.  This  was  smaller  than  the  present 
house,  but  it  was  later  incorporated  in  the  present 
stately  mansion;  one  story  was  added,  and  the  outer 
wall  was  moved  a  few  feet.  Thus  it  is  really  a  house 
within  a  house. 

At  the  time  of  Governor  Winthrop's  ownership  it 
was  called  the  Ten-Hill  Farmhouse,  because  ten  hills 
could  be  seen  from  its  windows.  John  Winthrop,  Jr., 
sold  the  place  to  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Lidgett.  Lieutenant 
Governor  Usher  married  a  Lidgett,  and  owned  the  estate 
until  he  lost  it  through  business  reverses.  The  name 
was  not  changed  until  1732,  when  the  house  was  bought 
by  Isaac  Koyall,  a  planter  from  Antigua,  in  the  Lee 
ward  Islands,  a  descendant  of  William  Royall  of  Salem. 
He  paid  £10,350  for  the  estate,  which  then  consisted 
of  five  hundred  and  four  acres.  It  was  he  who 
enlarged  the  house.  For  five  years  the  neighbors 
watched  the  transformation  of  the  comfortable  Ten- 
Hill  Farmhouse  to  the  great  Royall  House,  with  its 
enclosing  wall,  elm-bordered  driveway,  pleasing  garden, 
summerhouse,  great  barn,  and  rambling  slave-quarters. 

Two  generations  of  Royalls  entertained  lavishly  here. 
Among  the  guests  were  the  most  celebrated  men  of  the 
time,  as  well  as  many  who  were  not  so  well  known,  for 
all  were  welcome  there.  Many  of  these  guests  drove 
up  the  driveway  to  the  paved  courtyard  in  their  own 
grand  equipages.  Some  were  brought  in  the  four-horse 
Royall  chariot.  But  those  who  came  on  foot  were 
welcomed  as  heartily. 

Isaac  Royall,  II,  was  a  Tory,  and  in  1775  he  was 
compelled  to  abandon  the  property.  Thereupon  Col- 


68          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

onel,  later  General,  John  Stark  made  it  his  headquar 
ters.  The  regiment  which  he  had  himself  raised,  and 
whose  wages  he  paid  for  a  time  from  his  own  pocket, 
was  encamped  near  by.  From  the  Royall  house  these 
men  and  their  intrepid  leader  went  out  to  the  Battle 
of  Bunker  Hill. 

Under  the  direction  of  Molly  Stark  the  house  main 
tained  its  reputation  for  hospitality,  and  she  did  her 
best  to  make  the  place  the  abode  of  patriotism.  On 
the  day  when  the  British  evacuated  Boston  she  prom 
ised  her  husband  to  signal  to  him  from  the  roof  the 
movements  of  the  enemy.  Passing  on  with  his  soldiers 
to  Dorchester  Heights,  he  anxiously  awaited  the  news 
sent  to  him  by  his  faithful  Molly. 

The  Royall  family  regained  possession  of  the  prop 
erty  in  1805.  To-day  it  is  owned  by  the  Royall  House 
Association,  which  keeps  it  open  to  the  visitors.  These 
come  in  large  numbers  to  see  relics  of  former  days, 
including  what  is  said  to  be  the  only  chest  that  sur 
vived  the  Boston  Tea  Party,  the  sign  of  the  Royall  Oak 
Tavern  in  Medford,  which  bears  the  marks  of  the  bullets 
of  the  soldiers  who  were  on  their  way  to  the  Battle  of 
Bunker  Hill,  the  old  furniture,  the  first  fork  used  in 
the  Colony,  and  the  furnishings  of  the  quaint  kitchen 
fireplace,  which  dates  from  1732. 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          69 


XIII 

BROADHEARTH  AND  THE  BENNET-BOARDMAN 
HOUSE,  SAUGUS,  MASSACHUSETTS 

TWO  REMARKABLE  SPECIMENS  OF  THE  OVERHANG  HOUSE 

"  Thomas  Dexter  of  Lyn,  yeoman,"  was  the  first 
owner  of  much  of  the  land  on  which  Lynn,  Massachu 
setts,  is  built.  Evidently  he  was  land  poor,  for  on 
October  22,  1639,  he  "  mortgaged  his  fearme  in  Lyn 
.  .  .  for  two  oxen  &  2  bulls  upon  condition  of  payment 
to  Simon  Broadstreet  of  Ipswich  £90  the  first  day  of 
August,  the  next  following  with  a  reservation  upon  the 
sale  of  the  said  fearme  to  give  the  said  Dexter  the  over 
flow  above  the  debt  and  damages  of  the  said  £90." 

Six  years  later  the  Registry  of  Deeds  at  Salem  told 
of  the  sale,  to  Richard  Leader,  Gent,  of  England,  of 
a  bit  of  the  farm  on  which  Governor  Broadstreet  held 
a  mortgage.  Mr.  Leader  was  the  agent  of  "  ye  Com 
pany  of  undertakers  of  ye  Iron  Works,"  and  he  thought 
that  Dexter  had  the  best  location  for  the  purposes  of 
the  company  that  proposed  to  start  what  proved  to  be 
the  first  successful  iron  works  in  the  Colonies.  The 
quaint  story  of  the  transaction  was  entered  thus: 

"  Thomas  Dexter  of  Lyn  in  the  County  of  Essex 
ye[oman]  for  the  sum  of  40  £  st[erling]  hath  sowld 
unto  Richard  Leder  for  ye  use  of  ye  Iron  works  all 
that  land,  wch  by  reason  of  [a]  damme  now  agreed  to 
be  made,  shall  overflow  and  all  sufficient  ground  for 
a  water  course  from  the  damme,  to  the  works  to  be 


TO          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

erected,  and  alsoe  all  [the]  land  betwene  the  an[cient] 
water  course  and  the  new  extended  flume  or  water 
course  togeather  with  five  acres  and  an  halfe  of  land 
lying  in  the  corn  field  most  convenient  for  the  Iron 
Works  and  also  tooe  convenient  cartwayes  that  is  to 
one  on  each  side  of  the  premises  as  by  a  deed  indented 
bearing  date  the  twentie  seaventh  of  January,  1645, 
more  at  lardge  apth." 

On  the  ground  thus  bought  a  sturdy  house,  Broad- 
hearth,  was  built  in  1646.  The  second  story  overhung 
the  first  story,  after  the  manner  of  many  English  houses 
of  the  period.  The  overhang  is  still  in  evidence,  though 
a  veranda  has  hidden  it  except  to  the  careful  observer. 

The  first  product  of  the  iron  works,  a  kettle,  was 
made  in  1642.  This  is  still  in  existence.  During  more 
than  one  hundred  years  neighboring  colonists  looked 
to  the  foundry  for  their  supplies  of  house  hardware, 
furnishings,  and  implements  of  iron.  The  site  of  the 
foundry  was  opposite  the  house,  while  traces  of  the 
pits  from  which  the  bog  ore  was  dug  are  easily  found 
in  the  field  at  the  rear.  Remains  of  scoria  and  slag 
are  also  pointed  out  to  the  visitor  by  employees  of  the 
Wallace  Nutting  Corporation,  which  has  restored  the 
house  as  nearly  as  possible  to  its  original  condition  and 
has  placed  in  it  furniture  of  the  period.  A  caretaker 
has  been  placed  in  charge  who  will  copy  for  applicants 
iron  wrork  in  the  house,  or  other  old  examples.  Thus, 
in  a  modest  way,  the  Saugus  Iron  Works  has  been 
reestablished. 

Another  specimen  of  the  overhang  house  is  not  far 
away.  This  is  the  house  built  some  time  between  1649 
and  1656  by  Samuel  Bennet,  carpenter.  It  is  famous 
as  the  house  that  has  been  in  two  counties,  Suffolk  and 


BROADHEARTH,   SAUGUS,   MASS. 


Photo  by  Wallace  Nutting,  Inc.,  Framingham  Center,  Mass 

See  page  69 


BENNETT-BOARDMAN  HOUSE,  SAUGUS,  MASS. 


Photo  by  Halliday  Historic  Photograph  Company 

See  page  69 


Photo  Furnished  by  Rev.  A.  McDonald,  Newburyport,  Mass. 


OLD  SOUTH  CHURCH,   NEWBURYPORT,  MASS. 


See  page  75 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          71 

Essex,  and  in  four  towns,  Boston,  Lynn,  Chelsea,  and 
Saugus. 

That  it  was  once  in  Boston  was  due  to  the  narrow 
strip  of  the  territory  of  the  city  that  stretched  far  out 
in  the  country,  somewhat  after  the  manner  of  a  portion 
of  a  modern  gerrymandered  legislative  district.  When 
the  district  was  set  off  as  Chelsea  and  Lynn,  in  response 
to  a  petition  of  citizens  who  were  inconvenienced  by 
their  distance  from  towrn  meetings,  the  boundaries  be 
tween  Chelsea  and  Lynn  were  carelessly  marked;  one 
line  ran  directly  through  the  front  door  and  the  chim 
ney  of  the  Bennet  house.  This  mistake,  which  caused 
annoyance  and  expense  to  those  who  occupied  the  house, 
was  not  corrected  for  more  than  one  hundred  years. 
Finally  Abijah  Boardman  asked  that  he  be  relieved 
of  his  double  liability  to  Lynn  and  Chelsea,  and  in 
1803,  by  Act  of  the  General  Court,  the  petition  was 
granted. 

Bennet,  the  builder  of  the  house,  figured  more  than 
once  in  the  courts.  In  1644  the  Grand  Jury  indicted 
him  as  "  a  Common  sleeper  in  time  of  exercise,"  and 
he  was  fined  2s.  6d.  In  1671  he  brought  suit  against 
the  Iron  Works  Company  for  £400  for  labor.  In  con 
nection  with  this  suit  John  Paule,  whose  "  constant 
employment  was  to  repair  carts,  coale  carts,  mine  carts, 
and  other  working  materials  "  for  the  "  tiemes  "  at  the 
iron  works,  testified  that  "  my  master  Bennet  did 
yearly  yearme  a  vast  sum  from  said  Iron  Works,  for 
he  commonly  yearmed  forty  or  fifty  shillings  a  daye., 
for  he  had  five  or  six  teenies  goeing  generally  every 
faire  day." 

Bennets  and  Boardmans  have  held  the  house  from 
the  beginning.  The  Society  for  the  Preservation  of 


72          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

New  England  Antiquities  has  interested  itself  in  the 
protection  of  the  property. 


XIV 

THE  COLONEL  JEREMIAH  LEE  HOUSE, 
MARBLEHEAD,  MASSACHUSETTS 

THE  HOME  OF  ONE  OF  THE  EARLIEST  MARTYRS  TO  THE 
CAUSE  OF  THE  COLONIES 

Marblehead  was  a  comparatively  insignificant  port 
when  Jeremiah  Lee  came  to  town.  At  once  he  made 
a  place  for  himself  among  the  humble  fishermen  and 
other  seafaring  men  of  the  place.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Board  of  Firewards  in  the  town's  first  fire  de 
partment,  and  he  served  on  important  committees. 

When,  in  1768,  he  built  a  wonderful  mansion  that 
cost  more  than  ten  thousand  pounds,  the  most  wonder 
ful  house  in  Massachusetts  at  the  time,  his  townsmen 
knew  him  well  enough  to  understand  that  he  was  their 
good  friend,  even  if  he  did  have  much  more  money  than 
any  of  them. 

The  Lee  Mansion  was  a  hospitable  home.  The  Col 
onel  and  his  wife  Martha  entertained  lavishly,  not  only 
the  people  of  the  town  but  famous  men  from  abroad. 
In  1789  Washington  was  entertained  in  the  house.  But 
it  was  one  of  the  glories  of  the  mansion  that  the  hum 
blest  mariner  in  the  place  was  not  slow  to  go  there  if 
he  wished  to  have  a  chat  with  the  bluff  owner  or  if  he 
desired  to  go  to  the  quaint  cupola  from  which  it  is 
possible  to  look  far  out  to  sea,  To  this  outlook  Colonel 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          73^ 

Lee  himself  often  went,  for  his  ships  were  sailing  to 
Marblehead  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  he  was 
as  eager  as  any  one  to  turn  his  eyes  seaward. 

The  house  is  sixty-four  feet  by  forty-six  feet,  and  the 
walls  are  of  brick,  though  they  are  covered  with  wooden 
clapboards  two  feet  by  one  and  a  half  feet.  There 
are  fifteen  rooms,  in  addition  to  the  great  halls  that 
make  the  house  seem  like  a  palace. 

In  these  rooms  the  Colonel  conferred  with  other 
patriots  as  to  the  welfare  of  Massachusetts  and  all  the 
colonies.  From  the  house  he  went  out  to  the  town 
meetings  where  the  men  gathered  to  talk  over  the  Bos 
ton  Port  Bill  and  the  Boston  Tea  Party  and  questions 
of  Taxation  without  Representation. 

He  rejoiced  to  serve  as  a  representative  in  the  Gen 
eral  Court  and  on  the  Committee  of  Safety  and  Sup 
plies  of  the  Province.  He  was  chosen  to  represent  the 
town  in  the  Continental  Congress,  and  when  he  was 
unable  to  go,  Elbridge  Gerry,  who  later  became  Vice- 
President  of  the  United  States,  was  sent  in  his  place 
at  the  expense  of  the  town. 

On  the  night  of  April  18,  1775,  in  company  with 
Elbridge  Gerry  and  Azor  Orin,  who  were  members  with 
him  of  the  Committee  of  Safety  and  Supplies,  he  was 
attending  a  meeting  at  Weatherby's  Black  Horse  Tav 
ern  just  outside  of  Cambridge.  The  meeting  adjourned 
so  late  that  the  three  men  decided  to  spend  the  night 
at  the  tavern.  The  eight  hundred  British  soldiers  who 
were  on  their  way  that  night  to  Lexington  learned  of 
the  presence  in  Cambridge  of  the  patriots.  Some  one 
rushed  to  the  tavern  and  roused  them  from  slumber. 
They  did  not  even  have  time  to  put  on  their  clothes, 
but  ran  at  once  from  the  house  and  hid  themselves  at 


74          HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

some  distance  from  the  tavern.  When  the  disappointed 
troops  had  gone  on,  the  hunted  men  returned  to  their 
room. 

Three  weeks  later  Lee  died  as  the  result  of  the  ex 
posure.  He  has  been  called  one  of  the  earliest  martyrs 
to  the  cause  of  the  Colonies.  Before  he  died  he  left 
directions  that  five  thousand  pounds  should  be  given 
to  the  treasury  of  the  provinces. 

Mrs.  Lee,  who  was  Martha  Swett  of  Marblehead, 
lived  on  in  the  mansion  with  those  of  her  eight  children 
who  had  not  gone  already  to  homes  of  their  own. 
Under  her  guidance  the  hospitality  for  which  the  house 
had  become  noted  was  maintained. 

Those  who  pass  between  the  beautiful  porch  pillars 
and  enter  the  chaste  colonial  doorway  are  amazed  at 
the  remarkable  hallway  and  the  stairs.  The  hall  is 
fifteen  feet  wide  and  extends  the  length  of  the  house. 
It  is  heavily  wainscoted  with  mahogany.  On  the  walls 
hangs  remarkable  panelled  paper  whose  designs,  depict 
ing  ancient  architecture,  are  in  keeping  with  the  ma 
jestic  proportions  of  the  place.  The  stairway  is  so 
wide  that  four  or  five  people  can  climb  it  abreast  and 
the  balustrade  and  the  spindles  are  of  exquisite  work 
manship. 

The  rear  stairway  is  far  more  ornate  than  the  best 
stairway  in  most  houses,  and  the  rooms  are  in  keeping 
with  the  hall  and  the  stairways. 

The  cupola  is  one  of  the  most  striking  features  of 
the  house.  Here  six  windows  give  a  view  that  is  worth 
going  far  to  see. 

When  Mrs.  Lee  died,  the  property  descended  to  her 
son.  Judge  Samuel  Sewell  was  a  later  owner.  But 
the  day  came  when  it  was  to  be  sold  at  auction.  All 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          75 

Marblehead  feared  that  the  historic  place  would  be 
destroyed.  Fortunately  the  Marblehead  Historical  So 
ciety  was  able  to  raise  the  fifty-five  hundred  dollars 
needed  to  secure  it. 

Since  July  9,  1909,  the  Society  has  owned  the  man 
sion.  For  six  months  of  every  year  it  is  open  to  visitors 
who  throng  to  see  the  choice  collection  of  china,  por 
traits,  embroidery,  and  furniture  that  has  been  gath 
ered  together  by  the  Society. 


XV 


THE  OLD  SOUTH  CHURCH,  NEWBURYPORT, 
MASSACHUSETTS 

WHERE  GEORGE  WHITEFIELD,  THE  GREAT  EVANGELIST, 
IS  BURIED 

More  than  one  hundred  years  after  the  organization 
of  the  First  Church  of  Newburyport,  Rev.  George 
Whitefield,  then  a  young  man  of  twenty-six,  preached 
in  the  community.  "  The  Great  Awakening,"  which 
followed,  spread  all  over  New  England,  and  more  than 
thirty  thousand  were  converted.  Whitefield,  Jonathan 
Edwards,  the  Tennents,  and  others  led  in  the  work  that 
had  such  wonderful  results. 

Five  years  after  Whitefield's  visit  to  Newburyport 
the  Old  South  Church  was  organized,  most  of  those 
who  became  members  having  been  converted  under 
Whitefield's  preaching.  The  new  church  was  actually 
a  Presbyterian  church  from  the  beginning,  though  it 


76          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

did  not  finally  adopt  the  Presbyterian  form  of  govern 
ment  until  1802. 

The  members  of  the  new  church  were  called  "  a  mis 
guided  band/'  and  "  new  schemers."  Their  first  pastor 
was  called  a  dissenting  minister.  Their  protest  against 
these  aspersions  took  the  form  of  a  petition  to  "  The 
King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty/'  which  was  a  prayer 
for  that  "  equal  liberty  of  conscience  in  worshipping 
God  "  that  had  already  been  granted  to  others.  The 
petition  recited  the  desire  of  the  people  to  be  relieved 
of  taxation  "  for  the  support  of  ministers  on  whose 
ministry  they  cannot  in  conscience  attend,"  and  stated 
that,  because  of  their  refusal  to  pay  what  they  felt  were 
unjust  taxes,  "  honest  and  peaceable  men  have  been 
hauled  away  to  prison  to  their  great  hurt  and  damage." 

When  the  petition  was  presented  to  the  king  by  Mr. 
Partridge,  their  agent,  he  declared  that  they  were  not 
"  a  wild,  friekish  people,"  and  cited  as  an  argument 
for  relief  from  double  taxation  that,  while  they  had 
some  wealthy  members,  there  were  among  them  "  more 
poor  widows  than  all  the  other  congregations  in  town 
put  together."  He  said  those  who  protested  against 
double  taxation  had  been  "  dragged  about  upon  the 
ground,"  dressed  up  in  bear  skins  and  worried,  and 
imprisoned. 

The  protest  did  not  bring  relief  at  once;  it  was  1773 
before  the  General  Court  granted  the  plea  of  the  mem 
bers.  For  more  than  twenty  years  more  the  town  tried 
to  collect  double  taxes,  but  in  1795  the  rights  of  the 
members  of  Old  South  were  conceded. 

The  first  building,  erected  in  1743,  gave  way  in  1756 
to  the  structure  still  in  use.  Alterations  made  since 
that  time  have  not  made  any  great  change  in  its  appear- 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          77 

ance,  except  in  the  tower,  which  was  repaired  in  1848, 
because  it  was  thought  that  the  timber  must  be  decay 
ing.  However,  to  the  surprise  of  the  carpenters  who 
undertook  the  repairs,  they  were  found  as  sound  as  ever. 
A  half -hour  was  required  to  saw  through  one  of  them ! 

The  bell  in  the  new  tower  was  cast  by  Paul  Revere. 
Surmounting  the  spire  is  a  cock  which  was  perched  on 
the  original  tower.  When  this  tower,  after  the  car 
penters  had  done  all  they  could  with  their  saws,  was 
pulled  over  by  horses  and  oxen,  the  cock  broke  loose 
and  fell  at  some  distance.  The  man  who  picked  up 
the  figure  was  surprised  to  find  that  it  was  of  solid 
copper,  instead  of  wood,  as  had  been  thought,  and  that 
it  weighed  more  than  fifty  pounds. 

In  the  original  pews  there  was  a  central  chair,  sur 
rounded  by  seats  hung  on  hinges.  Over  the  pulpit  was 
a  sounding  board.  At  the  head  of  the  pulpit  stair  a 
seat  was  provided  for  the  sexton,  that  he  might  be  on 
hand  to  trim  the  candles  during  the  evening  service. 

The  official  history  of  the  church,  written  by  Dr. 
H.  C.  Hovey,  gives  interesting  facts  concerning  the 
heating  of  the  old  building: 

"  For  seventy  years  those  who  crowded  this  church 
depended  on  footstoves  altogether  for  warmth  in  win 
ter;  while  the  minister  preached  in  his  ample  cloak, 
and  wore  gloves  with  a  finger  and  thumb  cut  off  to 
enable  him  the  better  to  turn  the  leaves.  A  law  was 
made  allowing  the  sexton  twenty  cents  for  each  foot- 
stove  that  he  had  to  fill  before  service  and  remove  after 
ward.  A  great  sensation  was  made  in  1819  by  the 
introduction  of  wood  stoves  at  an  outlay  of  $100.  The 
first  day  they  were  in  place  the  people  were  so  over 
come  that  some  of  them  fainted  away  and  were  carried 
out  of  the  house;  but  they  revived  on  learning  that  as 


78          HISTORIC  SHEINES  OF  AMERICA 

yet  no  fire  had  been  kindled  in  the  new  stoves.  The 
doors  of  the  stoves  opened  into  the  ample  vestibule, 
where  the  custom  continued  of  ranging  the  many  foot- 
stoves  in  a  wide  circle  to  be  filled  with  live  coals  from 
the  stove." 

On  the  Sunday  after  the  battle  of  Lexington  Dr. 
Jonathan  Parsons  made  an  appeal  in  the  name  of  lib 
erty.  After  this  Captain  Ezra  Lunt  stepped  into  the 
aisle  and  formed  a  company  of  sixty  men,  which  is  said 
to  have  been  the  first  company  of  volunteers  to  join 
the  Continental  Army. 

Later  Newburyport  supplied  a  number  of  companies. 
But  the  call  came  for  still  another  company.  "  Day 
after  day  the  recruiting  officers  toiled  in  vain,"  Dr. 
Hovey  writes,  "Finally  the  regiment  was  invited  to 
the  Presbyterian  church,  where  they  were  addressed 
in  such  spirited  and  stirring  words  that  once  again  a 
number  of  this  church  stepped  forth  to  take  the  cove 
nant,  and  in  two  hours  after  the  benediction  had  been 
spoken  the  entire  company  was  raised." 

During  the  war  twenty-two  vessels  and  one  thousand 
men,  from  the  towns  of  Newbury  and  Newburyport, 
were  lost  at  sea.  The  first  American  flag  seen  in  Brit 
ish  waters,  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  was  dis 
played  in  the  Thames  by  Nicholas  Johnson  of  New- 
buryport,  captain  of  the  Compte  de  Grasse. 

Among  the  treasures  of  the  church  is  the  Bible  which 
Whitefield  used.  The  evangelist,  who  died  Sunday, 
September  30,  1770,  is  buried  in  the  crypt  under  the 
pulpit  where  he  had  planned  to  preach  on  the  very  day 
of  his  death,  as  he  had  preached  many  times  during 
the  years  since  the  building  of  the  church.  To  this 
dark  crypt  thousands  of  reverent  visitors  have  groped 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          79 

their  way.  One,  less  reverent,  removed  an  arm  of  the 
skeleton  and  carried  it  to  England  as  a  relic.  No  one 
knew  what  had  become  of  it  until,  after  the  death  of 
the  thief,  it  was  returned  to  Newburyport,  together 
with  a  bust  of  Whitefield.  This  bust  is  also  one  of  the 
treasures  of  Old  South. 

Those  who  love  this  old  church  at  Newburyport  de 
light  in  the  lines  of  John  Greenleaf  Whittier: 

"  Under  the  church  of  Federal  Street, 
Under  the  tread  of  its  Sabbath  feet, 
Walled  about  by  its  basement  stones, 
Lie  the  marvellous  preacher's  bones. 
No  saintly  honors  to  them  are  shown, 
No  sign  nor  miracle  have  they  known; 
But  he  who  passes  the  ancient  church 
Stops  in  the  shade  of  its  belfry-porch, 
And  ponders  the  wonderful  life  of  him 
Who  lies  at  rest  in  that  charnel  dim. 
Long  shall  the  traveller  strain  his  eye 
From  the  railroad  car,  as  it  plunges  by, 
And  the  vanishing  town  behind  him  search 
For  the  slender  spire  of  the  Whitefield  Church ; 
And  feel  for  one  moment  the  ghosts  of  trade 
And  fashion  and  folly  and  pleasure  laid, 
By  the  thought  of  that  life  of  pure  intent, 
That  voice  of  warning,  yet  eloquent, 
Of  one  on  the  errands  of  angels  sent. 
And  if  where  he  labored  the  flood  of  sin 
Like  the  tide  from  the  harbor-bar  sets  in. 
And  over  a  life  of  time  and  sense 
The  church-spires  lift  their  vain  defence, 
As  if  to  scatter  the  bolts  of  God 
With  the  points  of  Calvin's  thunder-rod, — • 
Still,  as  the  gem  of  its  civic  crown, 
Precious  beyond  the  world's  renown, 
His  memory  hallows  the  ancient  town!  " 


80          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 


XVI 

THE  FIRST  BAPTIST  CHURCH,  PROVIDENCE, 
RHODE  ISLAND 

THE  OLDEST  BAPTIST  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA 

When  Roger  Williams,  Welshman,  left  England  for 
America  because  he  could  not  find  in  the  Church  of 
England  freedom  to  worship  God  according  to  his  con 
science,  he  came  to  Salem,  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony.  There  he  joined  others  who  had  sought  Amer 
ica  for  the  same  purpose,  but  to  his  disappointment 
he  found  that  his  ideas  of  liberty  of  worship  did  not 
agree  with  theirs,  and  he  was  once  more  adrift.  On 
October  9,  1635,  the  authorities  of  the  Colony  ordered 
that  he  "  shall  depart  out  of  this  jurisdiction."  He  was 
later  given  permission  to  remain  until  spring,  on  con 
dition  that  he  make  no  attempt  "  to  draw  others  to  his 
opinions." 

On  the  ground  that  he  had  broken  the  implied  agree 
ment,  the  Governor,  on  January  11,  1636,  sent  for  him 
to  go  to  Boston,  from  whence  he  was  to  be  banished  to 
England.  Williams  sent  word  that  he  was  ill  and  could 
not  come  at  the  time.  A  force  of  men  was  sent  to  seize 
him,  but  when  they  reached  his  house  he  had  departed 
already,  turning  his  face  toward  the  southern  wilder 
ness.  He  was  "  sorely  tossed  for  fourteen  weeks  in 
a  bitter  winter  season,  not  knowing  what  bread  or  bed 
did  mean." 

On  April  30,  1636,  he  came  to  the  country  of  the 
Wampanoags,  where  the  sachem  Massasoit  made  him 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          81 

a  grant  of  land.  Within  a  short  time  some  of  his  friends 
joined  him,  and  primitive  houses  were  built.  Then 
came  word  from  the  Governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay 
that  he  must  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Plymouth 
Colony.  Accordingly,  with  six  others,  he  embarked  in 
canoes  and  sought  for  a  location.  When  this  was  found 
Canonicus  and  Mantonomi  agreed  to  let  the  company 
have  lands,  and  soon  the  new  settlement  was  made  and 
named  Providence,  in  recognition  of  God's  care  of  him 
during  his  journey.  Then  others  joined  him  and  his 
companions. 

Two  years  after  the  settlement  of  Providence  twelve 
of  the  citizens  decided  that  they  must  have  a  church. 
One  of  the  company,  Ezekiel  Hollyman,  baptized  Roger 
Williams  and  Williams  baptized  Hollyman  and  ten 
others.  The  twelve  then  baptized  were  the  original 
members  of  the  first  church  of  Providence,  Rhode 
Island,  the  first  Baptist  church  in  America,  and  the 
second  in  the  world.  Roger  Williams  was  the  first 
pastor,  but  he  withdrew  before  the  close  of  the  year 
in  which  the  church  was  organised.  During  the  re 
maining  forty-five  years  of  his  life  he  remained  in 
Providence  as  a  missionary  among  the  Indians,  whose 
friendship  he  had  won  by  his  scrupulously  careful  and 
honorable  method  of  dealing  with  them. 

The  church  met  in  private  houses  or  under  the  trees, 
for  more  than  sixty  years.  The  first  meeting  house 
was  not  erected  until  1700.  The  builder  was  Pardon 
Tillinghast,  the  sixth  pastor  of  the  church,  who,  like 
his  predecessors,  served  without  salary.  However,  he 
urged  that  the  church  should  begin  to  pay  its  way,  and 
that  his  successor  should  receive  a  stipulated  salary. 
The  Tillinghast  building  was  in  use  for  fifteen  years 


82          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

after  it  was  deeded  to  the  congregation,  in  1711.  The 
deed,  which  is  on  record  at  the  Providence  City  Hall, 
calls  the  church  a  "  Six-Principle  church." 

The  growth  of  the  congregation  called  for  a  larger 
building.  This  was  erected  in  1726  and  was  used  until 
1774.  An  old  document  gives  an  interesting  side  light 
on  the  building  of  the  meeting  house.  This  is  an  ac 
count  of  Richard  Brown,  dated  May  30,  1726,  which 
reads : 

The  account  of  what  charge  I  have  been  at  this  day 
as  to  the  providing  a  dinner  for  the  people  that  raised 
the  Baptist  meeting-house  at  Providence  (it  being  raised 
this  day, )  is  as  f olloweth : 

One  fat  sheep,  which  weighed  forty-three  Ibs.  £0, 14,  04 
For  roasting  the  said  sheep,  etc.  8 

For  one  Ib.  butter  1 

For  two  loaves  of  bread  which  weighed  fifteen  Ibs.    2 
For  half  a  peck  of  peas  1.03 

When  the  building  was  planned  the  Charitable  Bap 
tist  Society  was  incorporated,  that  it  might  hold  title 
to  "  a  meeting-house  for  the  public  worship  of  Almighty 
God,  and  to  hold  Commencement  in."  Nearly  a  third 
of  the  £7,000  required  for  the  new  building  was 
raised  by  a  lottery,  authorized  by  the  State.  The  archi 
tects  modelled  the  church  after  the  popular  St.  Martins- 
in-the-Fields  in  London,  whose  designer  was  James 
Gibbs,  a  pupil  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren. 

In  the  two-hundred-foot  spire  was  hung  the  bell  made 
in  London,  on  which  were  inscribed  the  strange  words : 

"  For  freedom  of  conscience  this  town  was  first  planted; 
Persuasion,  not  force  was  used  by  the  people: 
This  Church  is  the  eldest,  and  has  not  recanted, 
Enjoying  and  granting  bell,  temple,  and  steeple." 


IN  THE  LAND  OF  THE  PILGRIMS          83 

The  pastor  at  the  time  the  new  church  was  first  oc 
cupied,  on  May  28,  1775,  was  president  of  Rhode  Island 
College,  an  institution  which  had  been  located  in  Provi 
dence  in  1773,  in  consequence  of  the  generosity  and 
activity  of  the  members  of  the  church.  The  institution 
later  became  Brown  University.  Every  one  of  the 
presidents  of  the  college  has  been  a  member  of  the 
First  Church. 

A  church  whose  building  was  dedicated  "  midway 
between  the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill " 
should  have  a  patriotic  history.  The  story  of  Provi 
dence  during  the  Revolution  shows  that  the  members 
were  keenly  alive  to  their  opportunities.  The  first  sug 
gestion  for  the  Continental  Congress  came  from  Provi 
dence.  Rhode  Island  was  the  first  State  to  declare  for 
independence.  Pastor  and  people  were  ardent  sup 
porters  of  these  movements.  Many  soldiers  were  fur 
nished  to  the  army  by  the  congregation. 

Naturally,  then,  people  would  be  interested  in  a  man 
like  Stephen  Gano,  who  became  pastor  in  1792.  He 
had  been  a  surgeon  in  the  Revolutionary  Army,  and  had 
been  taken  prisoner,  put  on  board  a  prison-ship,  and 
bound  in  chains,  which  made  scars  that  lasted  for  life. 
His  pastorate  of  thirty-six  years  was  the  longest  in  the 
history  of  the  church. 

The  stately  building  erected  in  1774  is  still  in  use. 
The  gallery  long  set  apart  for  the  use  of  slaves  has 
given  way  to  a  square  loft,  the  old  pews  have  been  dis 
placed  by  modern  seats,  and  the  lofty  pulpit  and  sound 
ing-board  have  disappeared.  Otherwise  the  church  is 
much  as  it  was  when  the  first  congregation  entered  its 
doors  in  1775. 


TWO:   WHERE  PATROONS  AND 
KNICKERBOCKERS  FLOURISHED 


Where  nowadays  the  Battery  lies, 

New  York  had  just  begun, 
A  new-lorn  babe,  to  rub  its  eyes, 

In  Sixteen  Sixty- One. 
They  christened  it  Nieuw  Amsterdam, 

Those  burghers  grave  and  stately, 
And  so,  with  schnapps  and  smoke  and  psalm, 

Lived  out  their  lives  sedately. 

Two  windmills  topped  their  wooden  wall, 

On  stadthuys  gazing  down, 
On  fort,  and  cabbage-plots,  and  all 

The  quaintly  gabled  town; 
These  flapped  their  wings  and  shifted  backs, 

As  ancient  scrolls  determine, 
To  scare  the  savage  Hackensacks, 

Paumanks,  and  other  vermin. 

At  night  the  loyal  settlers  lay 

Betwixt  their  feather-beds; 
In  hose  and  breeches  walked  by  day, 

And  smoked,  and  wagged  their  heads. 
No  changeful  fashions  came  from  France, 

The  vrouwleins  to  bewilder; 
No  broad-brimmed  burgher  spent  for  pants 

His  every  other  guilder. 

In  petticoats  of  linsey  red, 

And  jackets  neatly  kept, 
The  vrouws  their  knitting-needles  sped 

And  deftly  spun  and  swept. 
Few  modern-school  flirtations  there 

Set  wheels  of  scandal  trundling, 
But  youths  and  maidens  did  their  share 

Of  staid,  old-fashioned  bundling. 

EDMUND  OIAEENCE  STEDMAN. 


TWO:  WHERE  PATROONS  AND  KNICKER 
BOCKERS  FLOURISHED 

XVII 

THE  MORRIS-JUMEL  MANSION,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

WHERE  WASHINGTON  ESCAPED  FROM  THE  BRITISH  BY  A 
FIFTEEN  MINUTE  MARGIN 

"  A  Pleasant  situated  Farm,  on  the  Road  leading  to 
King's  Bridge,  in  the  Township  of  Harlem,  on  York- 
Island,  containing  about  100  acres,  near  30  acres  of 
which  is  Wood-land,  a  fine  piece  of  Meadow  Ground, 
and  more  easily  be  made:  and  commands  the  finest 
Prospect  in  the  whole  Country:  the  Land  runs  from 
River  to  River:  there  is  Fishing,  Oystering,  and  Clam 
ing  at  either  end.  .  .  . " 

When,  in  1765,  Roger  Morris,  whose  city  house  was 
at  the  corner  of  Whitehall  and  Stone  streets,  saw  this 
advertisement  in  the  New  York  Mercury,  he  hungered 
for  the  country.  So  he  bought  the  offered  land,  and 
by  the  summer  of  1766  he  had  completed  the  sturdy 
Georgian  house  that,  after  a  century  and  a  half,  looks 
down  on  the  city  that  has  grown  to  it  and  beyond  it. 

In  an  advertisement  published  in  1792,  in  the  New 
York  Daily  Advertiser,  a  pleasing  description  of  the 
mansion  of  Roger  Morris  was  given: 

"  On  the  premises  is  a  large  dwelling-house,  built  in 
modern  style  and  taste  and  elegance.  It  has  ...  a 

87 


88          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

large  hall  through  the  centre;  a  spacious  dining  room 
on  the  right.  .  .  .  On  the  left  is  a  handsome  parlor 
and  a  large  back  room.  ...  On  the  second  floor  are 
seven  bedchambers.  ...  On  the  upper  floor  are  five 
lodging  rooms  .  .  .  and  at  the  top  of  the  house  is  af 
fixed  an  electric  conducter.  Underneath  the  building 
are  a  large,  commodious  kitchen  and  laundry  and  wine 
cellar,  storeroom,  kitchen  pantry,  sleeping  apartments 
for  servants,  and  a  most  complete  dairy  room.  ..." 

For  nine  years  Roger  Morris  and  his  family  lived  in 
the  mansion  on  the  Heights.  As  a  member  of  the 
Legislative  Council  much  of  his  time  was  given  to  the 
interests  of  his  fellow-citizens.  But  as  time  passed  he 
found  himself  out  of  sympathy  with  his  neighbors. 
They  demanded  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  he  felt 
that  he  could  not  join  the  revolt.  Accordingly,  in  1775, 
he  sailed  for  England,  leaving  his  large  property  in 
the  care  of  Mrs.  Morris. 

Mrs.  Morris  kept  the  house  open  for  a  time,  but 
finally,  taking  her  children  with  her,  she  went  to  her 
sister-in-law  at  the  Philipse  Manor  House  at  Yonkers. 

On  September  14,  1776,  General  Washington  decided 
to  abandon  the  city  to  the  British.  He  planned  to  go 
to  Harlem,  to  the  fortification  prepared  in  anticipation 
of  just  such  an  emergency.  On  September  15  he  took 
possession  of  the  Roger  Morris  house  as  headquarters. 
Two  days  later  his  Orderly  Book  shows  the  following 
message,  referring  to  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights: 

"  The  General  most  heartily  thanks  the  troops  com 
manded  yesterday  by  Major  Leitch,  who  first  advanced 
upon  the  enemy,  and  the  others  who  so  resolutely  sup 
ported  them.  The  behavior  of  yesterday  was  such  a 
contrast  to  that  of  some  troops  the  day  before  [at 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS   89 

Kip's  Bay]    as  must  show  what  may  be  done  when 
Officers  and  Soldiers  exert  themselves.7' 

During  the  weeks  when  the  mansion  remained  Wash 
ington's  headquarters  the  curious  early  flag  of  the  col 
onists  waved  above  it.  In  the  space  now  given  to  the 
stars  was  the  British  Union  Jack,  while  the  thirteen 
red  and  white  stripes  that  were  to  become  so  familiar 
completed  the  design.  This  flag  the  English  called 
"  the  Rebellious  Stripes." 

On  November  16,  1776,  Washington  was  at  Fort  Lee, 
on  the  New  Jersey  shore,  opposite  the  present  160th 
Street.  Desiring  to  view  from  the  Heights  the  British 
operations  in  their  attack  on  Fort  Washington,  he 
crossed  over  to  the  Morris  house.  Fifteen  minutes 
after  he  left  the  Heights  to  return  to  New  Jersey,  four 
teen  thousand  British  and  Hessian  troops  took  posses 
sion  of  the  Heights,  the  Morris  Mansion,  and  Fort 
Washington. 

The  period  of  British  occupation  continued,  at  in 
tervals,  until  near  the  close  of  the  war.  Since  the 
owner  was  a  Loyalist,  the  British  Government  paid 
rent  for  it. 

After  the  Revolution  the  property  was  confiscated, 
as  appears  from  an  entry  in  Washington's  diary,  dated 
July  10,  1790: 

"  Having  formed  a  Party  consisting  of  the  Vice- 
President,  his  lady,  Son  &  Miss  Smith;  the  Secretaries 
of  State,  Treasury,  &  War,  and  the  ladies  of  the  two 
latter;  with  all  the  Gentlemen  of  my  family,  Mrs.  Lear 
&  the  two  Children,  we  visited  the  old  position  of  Fort 
Washington,  and  afterwards  dined  on  a  dinner  pro 
vided  by  a  Mr.  Mariner  at  the  House  lately  Colo.  Roger 


90          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Morris,   but   confiscated  and  in   the  occupation   of  a 
common  Farmer." 


For  nearly  thirty  years  after  the  Revolution  the 
stately  old  house  was  occupied  as  a  farmhouse  or  as 
a  tavern.  In  1810  it  became  the  home  of  Stephen  Jumel, 
a  wealthy  New  York  merchant,  whose  widow,  Madam 
Jumel,  later  gave  such  wonderful  entertainments  in  the 
house  that  the  whole  city  talked  about  her.  After  many 
years  of  life  alone  in  the  mansion,  in  July,  1833,  she 
married  Aaron  Burr.  He  was  then  seventy-two  years 
old,  while  she  was  fifty-nine. 

Madam  Jumel-Burr  lived  until  July  16,  1865.  Dur 
ing  her  last  years  she  was  demented  and  did  many 
strange  things.  For  a  time  she  maintained  an  armed 
garrison  in  the  house,  and  she  rode  daily  about  the 
grounds  at  the  head  of  fifteen  or  twenty  men. 

The  mansion  passed  through  a  number  of  hands 
until,  in  1903,  title  to  it  was  taken  by  the  City  of  New 
York,  on  payment  of  $235,000. 

For  three  years  the  vacant  house  was  at  the  mercy 
of  souvenir  hunters,  but  when,  in  1906,  it  was  turned 
over  to  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution,  to 
be  used  as  a  Revolutionary  Museum,  twelve  thousand 
dollars  were  appropriated  for  repairs  and  restoration. 
This  amount  was  woefully  inadequate,  but  it  is  hoped 
that  further  appropriation  will  make  complete  restora 
tion  possible. 

The  spacious  grounds  that  once  belonged  to  the  man 
sion  have  been  sold  for  building  lots,  but  the  house 
looks  down  proudly  as  ever  from  its  lofty  site  almost 
opposite  the  intersection  of  Tenth  Avenue  and  One 
Hundred  and  Sixty-first  Street  with  St.  Nicholas 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS   91 

Avenue.     The  corner  of  its  original  dooryard  is  now 
Roger  Morris  Park. 


XVIII 

THE  PHILIPSE  MANOR  HOUSE,  YONKERS, 
NEW  YORK 

THE  HOME  OF  MARY  PHILIPSE,  IN  WHOM  GEORGE 
WASHINGTON  WAS  INTERESTED 

At  first  glance  one  would  not  think  that  the  name 
Yonkers  was  derived  very  directly  from  the  name  of 
the  first  settlers  of  the  region,  de  Jonkheer  Adriaen 
Van  der  Donck.  When,  in  1646,  he  secured  a  large 
tract  of  land  bounded  by  the  Hudson,  the  Bronx,  and 
Spuyten  Duyvil  Creek,  this  was  called  "  Colen  Donck  " 
(Donck's  Colony)  or  "  De  Jonkheer's "  (the  Young 
Lord's).  As  the  Dutch  "j"  is  pronounced  "y,"  the 
transition  from  Jonkheers  to  Yonkers  was  easy. 

On  September  29,  1672,  after  the  death  of  the  original 
owner,  7,708  acres  of  the  princely  estate  were  sold  to 
three  men,  of  whom  Frederick  Philipse  (originally 
Ffreric  Vlypse)  was  one.  A  few  years  later  Philipse 
bought  out  the  heirs  of  the  other  two  purchasers,  and 
added  to  his  holdings  by  further  purchases  from  his 
countrymen  and  from  the  Indians.  On  June  12,  1693, 
he  was  permitted  to  call  himself  lord  of  the  Manor  of 
Philipsburgh.  From  that  day  the  carpenter  from  Fries- 
land,  who  had  grown  so  rich  that  he  was  called  "  the 
Dutch  millionaire,"  lived  in  state  in  the  house  he  had 
begun  in  1682. 


92          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

This  lord  of  the  manor  became  still  more  important 
in  consequence  of  the  acceptance  of  his  offer  to  build 
a  bridge  over  Spuyt-den-duyvil,  or  "  Spiting  Devil " 
Creek,  when  the  city  declined  to  do  so  for  lack  of  funds. 
The  deed  given  to  him  stated  that  he  had  "  power  and 
authority  to  erect  a  bridge  over  the  water  or  river  com 
monly  called  Spiten  devil  ferry  or  Paparimeno,  and  to 
receive  toll  from  all  passengers  and  drovers  of  cattle 
that  shall  pass  thereon,  according  to  rates  hereinafter 
mentioned."  This  bridge,  which  was  called  Kings- 
bridge,  was  a  great  source  of  revenue  until  1713,  when 
it  was  removed  to  the  present  site.  Then  tolls  were 
charged  until  1759,  or,  nominally,  until  1779. 

Part  of  the  Manor  House  was  used  as  a  trading  post. 
Everything  Philipse  handled  seemed  to  turn  into  gold. 
All  his  ventures  prospered.  It  was  whispered  that 
some  of  these  ventures  were  more  than  a  little  shady, 
that  he  had  dealings  with  pirates  and  shared  in  their 
ill-gotten  gains,  and  that  he  even  went  into  partnership 
with  Captain  Kidd  when  that  once  honest  man  became 
the  prince  of  the  very  pirates  whom  the  Government 
had  commissioned  him  to  apprehend.  And  Philipse, 
as  a  member  of  the  Governor's  Council,  had  recom 
mended  this  Kidd  as  the  best  man  for  the  job!  It  is 
not  strange  that  the  lord  of  the  manor  felt  constrained 
to  resign  his  seat  in  the  council  because  of  the  popular 
belief  in  the  statement  made  by  the  Governor,  that 
"  Kidd's  missing  treasures  could  be  readily  found  if 
the  coffers  of  Frederick  Philipse  were  searched." 

Colonel  Frederick  Philipse,  the  great-grandson  of 
Captain  Kidd's  partner,  enlarged  the  Manor  House  to 
its  present  proportions  and  appearance.  He  also  was 
prominent  in  the  affairs  of  the  Colony.  He  was  a  mem- 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS   93 

ber  of  the  Provincial  Assembly,  and  was  chairman  of 
a  meeting  called  on  August  20,  1774,  to  select  delegates 
to  the  county  convention  which  was  to  select  a  repre 
sentative  to  the  First  Continental  Congress.  Thus, 
ostensibly,  he  was  taking  his  place  with  those  who  were 
crying  out  for  the  redress  of  grievances  suffered  at  the 
hands  of  Great  Britain.  Yet  it  was  not  long  until  it 
was  evident  that  he  was  openly  arrayed  with  those  who 
declined  to  turn  from  their  allegiance  to  the  king. 

The  most  famous  event  that  took  place  in  the  Philipse 
Manor  was  the  marriage,  on  January  28,  1758,  of  the 
celebrated  beauty,  Mary  Philipse,  to  Colonel  Roger 
Morris.  A  letter  from  Joseph  Chew  to  George  Wash 
ington,  dated  July  13,  1757,  shows  that — in  the  opinion 
of  the  writer,  at  least — the  young  Virginian  soldier  was 
especially  interested  in  Mary  Philipse.  In  this  letter, 
which  he  wrote  after  his  return  from  a  visit  to  Mrs. 
Beverly  Robinson  in  New  York,  the  sister  of  Mary 
Philipse,  he  said: 

"  I  often  had  the  Pleasure  of  Breakfasting  with  the 
Charming  Polly,  Roger  Morris  was  there  (Don't  be 
startled)  but  not  always,  you  know  him  he  is  a  Lady's 
man,  always  something  to  say,  the  Town  talk't  of  it 
as  a  sure  &  settled  Affair.  I  can't  say  I  think  so  and 
that  I  much  doubt  it,  but  assure  you  had  Little  Ac 
quaintance  writh  Mr.  Morris  and  only  slightly  hinted 
it  to  Miss  Polly,  but  how  can  you  be  Excused  to  Con 
tinue  so  long  in  Phila.  I  think  I  should  have  made  a 
kind  of  Flying  March  of  it  if  it  had  been  only  to  have 
seen  whether  the  Works  were  sufficient  to  withstand 
a  Vigorous  Attack,  you  a  soldier  and  a  Lover,  mind 
I  have  been  arguing  for  my  own  Interest  now  for  had 
you  taken  this  method  then  I  should  have  had  the 
Pleasure  of  seeing  you — my  Paper  is  almost  full  and 
I  am  Convinced  you  will  be  heartily  tyred  in  Reading 


94          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

it — however  will  just  add  that  I  intend  to  set  out  to 
morrow  for  New  York  where  I  will  not  be  wanting  to 
let  Miss  Polly  know  the  Sincere  Regard  a  Friend  of 
mine  has  for  her — and  I  am  sure  if  she  had  my  Eyes 
to  see  thro  would  Prefer  him  to  all  others." 

While  it  is  true  that  George  Washington  went  to 
New  York  to  see  the  charming  Polly,  there  is  no  evi 
dence  that  he  was  especially  interested  in  her. 

Colonel  Morris  later  built  for  his  bride  the  Morris- 
Jumel  Mansion,  which  is  still  standing  near  160th 
Street.  Mrs.  Morris  frequently  visited  at  the  home  of 
her  girlhood.  The  last  visit  was  paid  there  during 
Christmas  week  of  1776.  Her  father,  wko  had  been 
taken  to  Middletown,  Connecticut,  because  of  his  activ 
ities  on  the  side  of  the  king,  was  allowed  to  go  to  his 
home  on  parole. 

In  1779  the  Manor  House  and  lands  were  declared 
forfeited  because  the  owner  refused  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance  to  the  Colonies,  and  Frederick  Philipse, 
III,  went  to  England. 

The  property  was  sold  in  1785.  Until  1868  it  was 
in  the  hands  of  various  purchasers.  To-day  the  Manor 
House  is  preserved  as  a  relic  of  the  days  when  Washing 
ton  visited  the  house,  when  loyalists  were  driven  from 
the  doors,  and  when  it  was  the  centre  of  some  of  the 
important  movements  against  the  British  troops. 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS        95 

XIX 

ST.  PAUL'S  CHAPEL,  NEW  YOKK  CITY 

WHERE  WASHINGTON  ATTENDED  SERVICE  ON  HIS  FIRST 
INAUGURATION  DAY 

In  the  New  York  Gazette  of  May  14,  1764,  appeared 
this  notice  concerning  St.  Paul's  Chapel: 

"  We  are  told  that  the  Foundation  Stone  of  the  third 
English  Church  which  is  about  erecting  in  this  City, 
is  to  be  laid  this  day.  The  church  is  to  be  112  by  72 
feet." 

For  two  years  those  who  passed  the  corner  of  Broad 
way  and  Partition  (Fulton)  Street  watched  the  progress 
of  the  building.  On  October  30,  1766,  it  was  ready 
for  the  first  service. 

On  the  opening  day  there  was  no  steeple,  no  organ, 
and  no  stove.  But  those  who  entered  the  doors  were 
abundantly  satisfied  with  the  work  of  the  architect, 
who  is  said  to  have  been  a  Scotchman  named  McBean, 
a  pupil  of  Gibbs,  the  designer  of  St.  Martins-in-the- 
Fields,  London,  to  which  church  the  interior  of  St. 
Paul's  Chapel  bears  a  marked  resemblance.  In  the 
account  of  the  opening  the  New  York  Journal  and 
General  Advertiser  said  that  the  new  church  was  "  one 
of  the  most  elegant  edifices  on  the  Continent." 

Between  April  13,  1776,  when  Washington  arrived 
in  New  York,  and  September  15,  1776,  when  Lord  Howe 
occupied  the  city,  the  church  was  closed,  since  the  rector 
did  not  see  his  way  to  omit  from  the  service  the  prayers 


96          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

for  the  king.  But  when  the  British  took  possession  of 
New  York  the  doors  were  opened  once  more.  Until  the 
city  was  evacuated,  November  25,  1783,  Lord  Howe  and 
many  of  his  officers  were  regular  attendants  at  St. 
Paul's. 

Six  days  after  the  beginning  of  the  British  occupa 
tion  the  church  had  a  narrow  escape  from  destruction. 
A  fire,  which  Howe  declared  was  of  incendiary  origin, 
burned  four  hundred  of  the  four  thousand  homes  in 
New  York.  St.  Paul's  Chapel  was  in  the  centre  of 
the  burnt  district.  Trinity  Church  was  destroyed,  and 
St.  Paul's  was  saved  by  the  efforts  of  its  rector,  Dr. 
Inglis.  This  was  the  first  of  five  such  narrow  escapes. 
The  steeple  was  actually  aflame  during  the  conflagra 
tion  of  1797,  but  the  building  was  saved.  Three  times 
during  the  nineteenth  century,  in  1820,  1848,  and  1865, 
fire  approached  or  passed  by  the  chapel. 

Immediately  after  the  first  inauguration  of  Washing 
ton,  at  the  City  Hall,  he  walked  to  St.  Paul's  to  ask 
God's  blessing  on  the  country  and  his  administration. 
During  his  residence  in  New  York,  until  Trinity  Church 
was  rebuilt,  he  was  a  regular  attendant  at  the  services. 
From  1789  to  1791  his  diary  records  the  fact  many 
times,  "  Went  to  St.  Paul's  Chappel  in  the  forenoon." 
At  first  he  used  the  pew  built  for  the  Governor  of  New 
York,  but  later,  when  a  President's  pew  was  built,  he 
moved  to  this.  Canopies  covered  both  pews,  while  they 
were  further  marked  by  the  arms  of  the  United  States 
and  of  New  York. 

Dr.  Morgan  Dix,  in  his  address  at  the  Centennial 
anniversary  of  the  completion  of  the  building,  told  of 
an  old  man  who  had  said  to  him  that  when  he  was  a 
boy  he  used  to  sit  with  other  school-boys  in  the  north 


MORRIS-JUMEL  HOUSE,   NEW  YORK  CITY. 


ink  Cousins  Art  Company 
See  page  87 


PHILIPS  K  MANOR  HOUSE,   TTONKERS,   N.   Y. 


See  page  01 


FRAUNCES    TAVERN,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


Photo  by  Frank  Cousins  Art  Comjxin.ii 
See  page  97 


VAN  CORTLANDT  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK  CITY 


Photo  by_Ph.  B.  Wallace 
See  page  104 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS   97 

gallery,  and  from  there  he  would  watch  the  arrival  of 
the  General  and  "  Lady  Washington  "  as  they  came  up 
Fair  Street  to  the  church,  in  a  coach  and  four. 

In  the  same  address  Dr.  Dix  said :  "  The  church  re 
mains,  substantially,  such  as  it  was  in  the  first  days; 
alterations  have  been  made  in  it,  but  they  have  not 
changed  its  general  appearance.  For  justness  of  pro 
portion  and  elegance  of  style,  it  still  holds  a  leading 
place  among  our  city  churches,  and  must  be  regarded 
as  a  fine  specimen  of  its  particular  school  of  architec 
ture.  When  it  was  built,  the  western  end  commanded 
an  uninterrupted  view  of  the  river  and  the  Jersey  shore, 
for  the  waters  of  the  Hudson  then  flowed  up  to  the  line 
of  Greenwich  Street,  all  beyond  is  made  land." 

In  the  portico  of  the  old  church  is  a  monument  to 
General  Montgomery,  a  member  of  St.  Paul's  parish, 
who  fell  at  Quebec,  and  is  buried  in  the  chapel.  This 
monument,  which  was  sent  from  France  by  Benjamin 
Franklin,  had  an  adventurous  career.  The  vessel  in 
which  it  was  shipped  was  captured  by  the  British,  and 
some  time  elapsed  before  it  reached  its  destined  place. 


XX 

FRAUNCES'  TAVERN,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

WHERE  WASHINGTON  TOOK  LEAVE  OF  HIS  SOLDIERS 

The  subscribers  of  the  Pennsylvania  Packet,  on  the 
morning  of  December  2,  1783,  read  the  following  pleas 
ing  despatch  from  New  York  City,  which  was  dated 
November  26,  1783 : 


I 

I 


98          HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

"  Yesterday  in  the  morning  the  American  troops 
marched  from  Haerlem,  to  the  Bowery  lanes.  They 
remained  there  until  about  one  o'clock,  when  the  British 
troops  left  the  fort  in  the  Bowery,  and  the  American 
troops  marched  in  and  took  possession  of  the  city. — 
After  the  troops  had  taken  possession  of  the  city,  the 
GENERAL  and  GOVERNOR  made  their  public  entry 
in  the  following  manner: — Their  excellencies  the  gen 
eral  and  governor  with  their  suites  on  horseback.  The 
lieutenant  governor,  and  the  members  of  the  council 
for  the  temporary  government  of  the  southern  district, 
four  a-breast. — Major-general  Knox,  and  the  officers  of 
the  army,  eight  a-breast. — Citizens  on  horseback,  eight 
a-breast. — The  speaker  of  the  assembly  and  citizens,  on 
foot,  eight  a-breast. 

"  Their  excellencies  the  governor  and  commander-in- 
chief  were  escorted  by  a  body  of  West  Chester  light 
horse,  under  the  command  of  Captain  Delavan.  The 
procession  proceeded  down  Queen  [now  Pearl]  Street, 
and  through  the  Broad- way  to  Cape's  Tavern.  The  gov 
ernor  gave  a  public  dinner  at  Fraunces'  tavern;  and 
which  the  commander-in-chief,  and  other  general  officers 
were  present." 


The  building  which  Washington  made  famous  that 
day  was  erected  by  Etienne  de  Lancey,  probably  in 
1700.  Samuel  Fraunces  purchased  the  place  in  1762. 
Soon  it  became  one  of  the  most  popular  taverns  in  New 
York.  Among  its  patrons  were  some  of  the  leaders  in 
the  Revolution,  as  well  as  many  who  were  loyal  to  King 
George.  But  Fraunces  himself  never  wavered  in  his 
allegiance  to  the  Colonies. 

One  of  the  clubs  that  met  regularly  at  Fraunces'  was 
the  Social  Club,  of  which  John  Jay,  Gouverneur  Morris, 
and  Robert  R.  Livingston  were  members. 

During  the  occupation  of  New  York  by  the  British 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS   99 

the  tavern  did  not  have  an  opportunity  to  play  a  part 
in  the  history  of  the  country,  though  the  daughter  of 
the  proprietor,  who  was  a  tavern  keeper  at  Washington's 
Richmond  Hill  headquarters,  made  ineffective  a  plot  to 
poison  the  Commander-in-Chief. 

Ten  days  after  Washington's  triumphal  entry  into 
the  city,  and  the  dinner  at  the  tavern,  one  of  the  rooms 
was  the  scene  of  a  historic  event  of  which  Rivington's 
New  York  Gazette  told  in  these  words : 

"Last  Thursday  noon  (December  4)  the  principal 
officers  of  the  army  in  town  assembled  at  Fraunces' 
tavern  to  take  a  final  leave  of  their  illustrious,  gracious 
and  much  loved  comrade,  General  Washington.  The 
passions  of  human  nature  were  never  more  tenderly 
agitated  than  in  this  interesting  and  distressful  scene. 
His  excellency,  having  filled  a  glass  of  wine,  thus  ad 
dressed  his  brave  fellow-soldiers: 

"  '  With  an  heart  full  of  love  and  gratitude  I  now 
take  leave  of  you :  I  most  devoutly  wish  that  your  latter 
days  may  be  as  prosperous  and  happy  as  your  former 
ones  have  been  glorious  and  honorable.' 

"  These  words  produced  extreme  sensibility  on  both 
sides;  they  were  answered  by  warm  expressions,  and 
fervent  wishes,  from  the  gentlemen  of  the  army,  whose 
truly  pathetic  feelings  it  is  not  in  our  power  to  convey 
to  the  reader.  Soon  after  this  scene  was  closed,  his 
excellency  the  Governor,  the  honorable  the  Council 
and  Citizens  of  the  first  distinction  waited  on  the  gen 
eral  and  in  terms  the  most  affectionate  took  their  leave." 

Two  years  later  Fraunces  sold  the  tavern,  but  it  re 
tains  his  name  to  this  day.  It  is  still  at  the  corner  of 
Broad  and  Pearl  streets.  Many  changes  have  been 
made  in  the  building,  under  the  direction  of  the  Sons 
of  the  Revolution,  and  it  will  continue  to  attract  vis 
itors  as  long  as  it  stands. 


100        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

XXI 

THE  GRANGE,  NEW  YORK  CITY 
WHERE  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON  SPENT  HIS  LAST  YEARS 

After  nineteen  years  of  moving  from  house  to  house 
and  from  city  to  city,  Alexander  Hamilton  made  up  his 
mind  to  have  a  home  of  his  own.  In  1780  he  had  taken 
Elizabeth  Schuyler  from  a  mansion  in  Albany  that  was, 
in  its  day,  almost  a  palace ;  and  in  1799  he  felt  that  the 
time  had  come  to  give  her  a  home  of  corresponding 
comfort. 

At  this  time  he  was  commander-in-chief  of  the  army 
of  the  United  States,  a  service  that  was  made  notable, 
among  other  things,  by  his  suggestion  and  preparation 
of  plans  for  the  West  Point  Military  Academy. 

The  chosen  site  for  the  house,  nine  miles  from  Bowl 
ing  Green,  was  bounded  by  the  present  St.  Nicholas 
and  Tenth  Avenues  and  141st  and  145th  streets.  The 
coach  from  New  York  to  Albany  afforded  regular  trans 
portation  to  the  spot,  though,  of  course,  Hamilton  had 
his  own  equipage.  When  he  planned  the  house  he 
thought  his  income  of  $12,000  would  be  ample  to  care 
for  the  property.  Accordingly  he  felt  justified  in  offer 
ing  £800  for  sixteen  acres,  one-half  of  which  was  to 
be  paid  in  cash,  the  balance  within  a  year. 

The  architect  chosen  was  John  McComb,  the  designer 
of  New  York's  old  City  Hall.  Hamilton  and  his  father- 
in-law,  General  Schuyler,  had  a  hand  in  the  develop 
ment  of  the  plans.  In  a  letter  to  Hamilton,  written 
August  25,  1800,  General  Schuyler  said: 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS 

"  If  the  house  is  boarded  on  the  outside,  and  the  clap 
boards  put  on,  and  filled  on  the  inside  with  brick,  I  am 
persuaded  no  water  will  pass  to  the  brick.  If  the  clap 
boards  are  well  painted,  and  filling  in  with  brick  will 
be  little  if  any  more  expensive  than  lath  and  plaister, 
the  former  will  prevent  the  nuisance  occasioned  by  rats 
and  mice,  to  which  you  will  be  eternally  exposed  if  lath 
and  plaister  is  made  use  of  instead  of  brick." 

The  mason's  specifications,  quoted  by  Allan  MacLane 
Hamilton,  were  as  follows: 

"  Proposal  for  finishing  General  Hamilton's  Country 
House — Viz. 

To  build  two  Stacks  of  Chimneys  to  contain  eight  fire 
places,  exclusive  of  those  in  Cellar  Story. 

To  fill  in  with  brick  all  the  outside  walls  of  the  1st 
and  2nd  stories,  also  all  the  interior  walls  that  Separate 
the  two  Octagon  Rooms — and  the  two  rooms  over  them 
— from  the  Hall  and  other  Rooms  in  both  Stories. 

To  lath  and  plaster  the  side  walls  of  1st  and  2nd 
stories  with  two  coats  &  set  in  white. 

To  plaster  the  interior  walls  which  separate  the  Octa 
gon  Room  in  both  Stories,  to  be  finished  white,  or  as 
General  Hamilton  may  chose. 

To  lath  and  plaster  all  the  other  partitions  in  both 
stories. 

To  lath  and  plaster  the  Ceiling  of  the  Cellar  Story 
throughout. 

To  plaster  the  Sidewalls  of  Kitchen,  Drawing  Room, 
Hall  &  passage,  &  to  point  &  whitewash  the  Stone  and 
brick  walls  of  the  other  part  of  Cellar  Story.  To  Point 
outside  walls  of  Cellar  Story  and  to  fill  in  under  the 
Sills. 

To  lay  both  Kitchen  hearths  with  brick,  placed  edge 
ways. 

To  put  a  Strong  Iron  back  in  the  Kitchen  fire-place, 
five  feet  long  by  24  9"  high. 


102        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

To  But  another  Iron  back  in  the  Drawing  Room  3' — 6" 
by  2'— 9". 

To  place  two  Iron  Cranes  in  the  Kitchen  fire  Place — 
&  an  Iron  door  for  the  oven  mouth. 

The  Rooms,  Hall  and  Passage  of  the  first  Story  to 
have  neat  Stocco  Cornices — Those  of  Octagon  Rooms  of 
Best  Kind  (but  not  inriched). 

To  put  up  the  two  setts  of  Italian  Marble  in  the 
Octagon  Room,  such  as  General  Hamilton  may  choose — 
and  six  setts  of  Stone  Chimney  pieces  for  the  other 
Rooms. 

The  Four  fireplaces  in  the  two  Octagon  rooms  &  the 
two  rooms  over  them,  to  have  Iron  Backs  and  jambs,  and 
four  fire  places  to  have  backs  only. 

To  lay  the  foundations  for  eight  piers  for  the  Piazza. 

Mr.  McComb  to  find  at  his  own  expense  all  the  Ma 
terial  requisite  for  the  afore  described  work  and  execute 
it  in  a  good  &  workmenlike  manner  for  one  thousand 
Eight  Hundred  and  Seventy  five  Dollars. 

General  Hamilton  to  have  all  the  Materials  carted 
and  to  have  all  the  Carpenter  work  done  at  his  expense — 

General  Hamilton  is  to  find  the  workmen  their  board 

or  to  allow shillings  per  day  for  each  days  work  in 

thereof.  " 

One  of  the  workmen  on  the  house  was  paid  $424.50 
for  three  and  one-half  years'  work.  Another  laborer 
was  given  $152.18  for  sixteen  months  and  twenty-seven 
days,  or  ninepence  per  day.  The  cost  of  the  house,  com 
plete,  was  £1,550. 

The  country  place  was  a  joy,  both  indoors  and  out. 
The  garden  was  especially  attractive  to  Hamilton.  In 
a  letter  written  from  The  Grange  to  a  friend  in  South 
Carolina,  he  said: 

"  A  garden,  you  know,  is  a  very  usual  refuge  of  a 
disappointed  politician.  The  melons  in  your  country 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS      103 

are  very  fine.     Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  send  me 
some  seed,  both  of  the  water  and  musk  melons?  " 

Guests  were  numerous.  Gouverneur  Morris  and 
General  Schuyler  were  often  at  The  Grange.  Chan 
cellor  Kent,  after  a  visit  paid  in  April,  1804,  wrote  to 
his  wife: 

"  I  went  with  General  Hamilton  on  Saturday,  the 
21st,  and  stayed  till  Sunday  evening.  There  was  a 
furious  and  dreadful  storm  on  Saturday  night.  It 
blew  almost  a  hurricane.  His  house  stands  high,  and 
was  much  exposed,  and  I  am  certain  that  in  the  second 
story,  where  I  slept,  it  rocked  like  a  cradle.  He  never 
appeared  before  so  friendly  and  amiable.  I  was  alone, 
and  he  treated  me  with  a  minute  attention  that  I  did 
not  suppose  he  knew  how  to  bestow.  His  manners  were 
also  very  delicate  and  chaste.  His  daughter,  who  is 
nineteen  years  old,  has  a  very  uncommon  simplicity  and 
modesty  of  deportment,  and  he  appeared  in  his  domestic 
state  the  plain,  modest,  and  affectionate  father  and 
husband." 

The  ideal  life  at  The  Grange  continued  only  until 
July  13,  1804.  That  morning  Hamilton  set  out  as  if 
for  the  office  in  the  city  as  usual,  without  informing 
Mrs.  Hamilton  of  the  impending  duel  with  Aaron  Burr. 
At  noon  the  wife  was  at  the  side  of  her  husband,  who 
died  next  day. 

After  his  death  there  were  put  in  her  hands  two 
letters.  In  these  he  told  of  his  purpose  to  permit  his 
antagonist  to  shoot  him : 

"  The  scruples  of  a  Christian  have  determined  me  to 
expose  my  own  life  to  any  extent  rather  than  subject 
myself  to  the  guilt  of  taking  the  life  of  another.  This 
much  increases  my  hazards,  and  redoubles  my  pangs  for 
you.  .  .  . 


104        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

"  If  it  had  been  possible  for  me  to  have  avoided  the 
interview,  my  love  for  you  and  my  precious  children 
would  have  been  alone  a  decisive  motive.  But  it  was 
not  possible,  without  sacrifices  which  would  have  ren 
dered  me  unworthy  of  your  esteem." 

Mrs.  Hamilton  remained  at  The  Grange  as  long  as 
possible,  directing  the  men  in  the  care  of  the  estate  and 
caring  for  her  children.  But  she  could  not  afford  to 
keep  a  carriage,  and  the  inaccessibleness  of  the  estate 
and  the  drain  it  made  on  her  limited  purse  soon  made 
it  necessary  for  her  to  rent  a  house  in  the  city. 

Though  friends  proposed  the  raising  of  a  fund  that 
would  care  for  Mrs.  Hamilton  and  the  children,  it  does 
not.  seem  that  there  was  any  relief  until  1816,  when 
Congress  gave  to  Mrs.  Hamilton  back  pay  amounting 
to  ten  thousand  dollars. 

After  The  Grange  was  sold  to  pay  debts,  its  career 
was  checkered.  Some  years  ago  it  was  moved  to  the 
east  side  of  Convent  Avenue,  and  it  then  became  the 
schoolhouse  of  St.  Luke's  Episcopal  Church. 


XXII 

THE  VAN  CORTLANDT  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK  CITY 

AT  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  MANHATTAN  "  NEUTRAL  GROUND  " 

In  1699  Jacobus  Van  Cortlandt  bought  the  first  fifty 
acres  of  the  ground  now  included  in  Van  Cortlandt 
Park,  New  York  City,  and  for  one  hundred  and  ninety 
years  the  property  remained  in  the  Van  Cortlandt 
family.  Until  fifty-three  years  before  the  first  of  the 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS      105 

Van  Cortlandts  acquired  it,  the  Indians  were  the  undis 
puted  possessors  of  the  plot. 

Adrisen  Van  der  Donck,  the  first  settler  to  acquire 
title,  lived  until  his  death  in  the  bomverie  or  farm 
house,  which  he  built  on  the  shore  of  a  brook.  When 
Jacobus  Van  Cortlandt  built  his  bouwerie  by  the  side 
of  the  same  brook,  he  dammed  the  water  to  make  a 
mill-pond,  which  is  to-day  the  beautiful  Van  Cortlandt 
lake.  There  he  built  a  grist  mill  which  remained  in  use 
until  1889.  Early  visitors  to  the  lake  delighted  to  study 
the  ancient  structure  to  which,  during  the  Revolution, 
both  British  and  patriot  soldiers  resorted  with  their 
grain.  The  mill  was  struck  by  lightning  and  destroyed 
in  1901. 

The  third  house  on  the  estate  was  built  in  1748  by 
Frederick  the  son  of  Jacobus,  who  acquired  by  the  will 
of  his  father  the  "  farm,  situate,  lying,  and  being  in  a 
place  commonly  called  and  known  by  the  name  of  Little 
or  Lower  Yonkers."  This  house,  which  was  modelled 
after  the  Philipse  Manor  House  at  Yonkers,  is  still  in  a 
fine  state  of  preservation.  Since  1897,  it  has  been  used 
as  a  public  museum,  in  charge  of  the  Colonial  Dames  of 
the  State  of  New  York. 

The  room  fitted  up  as  a  museum  was  occupied  by 
General  Washington -on  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  the 
house  in  1783.  This  room  is  also  pointed  out  as  the 
scene  of  the  death  of  Captain  Rowe  of  the  Hessian 
jaegers,  who  was  severely  wounded  near  the  house. 
When  he  realised  that  he  could  not  recover,  he  sent  in 
haste  for  the  young  woman  who  had  promised  to  marry 
him,  and  he  died  in  her  arms. 

Other  famous  visitors  were  Rochambeau,  Admiral 
Digby,  and  William  Henry,  Duke  of  Clarence,  who  be- 


106        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

came  King  William  IV  of  England.  Admiral  Digby, 
after  his  departure,  sent  to  Augustus  Van  Cortlandt, 
the  owner  of  the  house,  two  wooden  vultures,  which  he 
had  captured  from  a  Spanish  privateer.  These  vultures 
are  now  in  the  museum. 

The  old  house  was  the  centre  of  important  military 
operations  during  the  Revolution.  Washington  forti 
fied  eight  strategic  spots  in  the  vicinity  of  Kingsbridge, 
and  when  he  withdrew  before  the  British  occupied  the 
fortification,  a  number  of  Hessian  jaegers  were  quar 
tered  in  the  Van  Cortlandt  House.  To  the  north  of  the 
house  was  the  neutral  ground  for  which  the  two  armies 
continually  struggled  for  possession.  In  1781,  when 
Washington  was  about  to  withdraw  his  army  to  York- 
town,  he  directed  that  camp-fires  be  lit  on  Vault  Hill, 
the  site  of  the  Van  Cortlandt  family  vault.  By  this 
stratagem  he  succeeded  for  a  time  in  deceiving  the 
enemy  as  to  his  movements. 

Since  the  building  of  the  Broadway  subway  Van  Cort 
landt  Park  has  been  so  easy  of  access  that  the  number 
of  visitors  to  the  historic  spot  has  rapidly  increased. 


XXIII 

THE  HASBROUCK  HOUSE,  NEWBURGH, 
NEW  YORK 

WHERE  THE  CLOSING  DRAMA  OF  THE  REVOLUTION 
WAS  STAGED 

During  the  entire  period  of  the  Revolution  the  country 
about  Newburgh  was  an  important  centre  of  military 
operations.  West  Point  was  fortified  in  1776,  that  the 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS      107 

British  might  not  be  able  to  carry  out  their  design  of 
separating  New  England  from  the  middle  colonies. 
Many  officers  had  their  headquarters  within  a  fewr  miles 
of  these  fortifications.  Lafayette  was  at  the  Williams 
House,  three  miles  north  of  Newburgh,  while  Generals 
Green,  Gates,  and  Knox  were  at  VaiPs  Gate,  four  miles 
south  of  the  town.  General  George  Clinton  was  at 
Little  Britain,  and  General  Anthony  Wayne  was  in 
Newburgh. 

Washington's  first  stay  in  the  vicinity  was  at  VaiFs 
Gate,  New  Windsor,  in  the  winter  of  1779-80.  His 
longest  sojourn,  however,  was  in  the  house  which  Jona 
than  Hasbrouck  built  in  1750  and  enlarged  in  1770. 
The  best  description  of  this  substantial  one-story  stone 
house  at  the  time  of  Washington's  residence  there  is 
contained  in  the  "  Memoirs  "  of  Marquis  de  Chastellux, 
who  was  the  guest  of  the  Commander-in-chief  on 
December  6,  1872 : 

"  The  largest  room  in  it,  (which  was  the  proprietor's 
parlor  for  his  family,  and  which  General  Washington 
has  converted  into  his  dining-room)  is  in  truth  tolerably 
spacious,  but  it  has  seven  doors  and  only  one  window. 
The  chimney,  or  rather  the  chimney  back,  is  against  the 
wall ;  so  that  there  is  in  fact  but  one  vent  for  the  smoke, 
and  the  fire  is  in  the  room  itself.  I  found  the  company 
assembled  in  a  small  room,  which  served  by  way  of 
parlor.  At  nine  supper  was  served,  and  when  the  hour 
of  bed-time  came,  I  found  that  the  chamber,  to  which 
the  General  conducted  me,  was  the  very  parlor  I  speak 
of,  wherein  he  had  made  them  place  a  camp  bed.  .  .  ." 

The  records  of  the  months  when  Washington  was  an 
occupant  of  the  old  Dutch  house  are  among  the  most 
interesting  of  the  war.  For  instance,  on  May  10,  1782, 


108        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

there  came  tidings  of  the  arrival  in  New  York  of  Sir 
Guy  Carleton,  the  new  British  commander,  who  wrote 
that  he  desired  to  tell  of  the  king's  idea  of  a  possible 
peace,  and  of  the  attitude  of  the  House  of  Commons. 
He  closed  his  letter  by  saying,  "  If  war  must  prevail,  I 
shall  endeavor  to  render  its  miseries  as  light  to  the 
people  of  this  continent  as  the  circumstances  of  such  a 
condition  will  possibly  permit." 

Two  days  earlier  Washington  wrote  a  letter  to 
Meschech  Weare  in  which  he  seems  to  have  anticipated 
and  discredited  Carleton's  word  of  appeal : 

"  They  are  meant  to  amuse  this  country  with  a  false 
idea  of  peace,  to  draw  us  off  from  our  connection  with 
France,  and  to  lull  us  into  a  state  of  security  and  in 
activity,  which  having  taken  place,  the  ministry  will  be 
left  to  prosecute  the  war  in  other  parts  of  the  world 
with  greater  vigor  and  effect." 

In  less  than  two  weeks  a  tempter  of  an  entirely  dif 
ferent  sort  approached  Washington.  Lewis  Nicola, 
colonel  of  the  corps  of  invalids,  wrote  to  tell  of  the 
fact  that  the  officers  and  soldiers  were  discontented  be 
cause  they  had  not  received  their  pay.  Then  he  inti 
mated  that  he  had  no  hope  of  the  success  of  republican 
institutions,  but  thought  this  country  needed  a  ruler 
like  a  king,  though  he  might  not  be  called  king,  owing 
to  the  objection  to  that  word.  Yet  he  added,  "  I  be 
lieve  strong  arguments  might  be  produced  for  admitting 
the  title  of  KING,  which  I  conceive  would  be  attended 
with  some  material  advantages." 

To  this  letter  Washington  sent  prompt  reply,  on 
May  22,  1782 : 

"  SIR  :  With  a  mixture  of  great  surprise  and  aston 
ishment,  I  have  read  with  attention  the  sentiments  you 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS      109 

have  submitted  to  my  perusal.  Be  assured,  Sir,  no 
occurrence  in  the  course  of  the  war  has  given  me  more 
painful  sensations,  than  your  information  of  there  being 
such  ideas  existing  in  the  army,  as  you  have  expressed, 
and  I  must  view  with  abhorrence  and  reprehend  with 
severity.  For  the  present  the  Communication  of  this 
will  rest  in  my  own  bosom,  unless  some  further  agitation 
of  the  matter  shall  make  a  disclosure  necessary. 

"  I  am  much  at  a  loss  to  conceive  what  part  of  my 
conduct  could  have  given  encouragement  to  an  address, 
which  to  me  seems  big  with  the  greatest  mischiefs  that 
can  befall  my  country.  If  I  am  not  deceived  in  the 
knowledge  of  myself,  you  could  not  have  found  a  person 
to  whom  your  schemes  are  more  disagreeable.  At  the 
same  time,  in  justice  to  my  own  feelings,  I  must  add  that 
no  man  possesses  a  more  sincere  wish  to  see  ample  jus 
tice  done  to  the  Army  than  I  do,  and  so  far  as  my 
power  and  influence,  in  a  constitutional  way,  extend, 
they  shall  be  employed  to  the  utmost  of  my  abilities  to 
effect  it,  should  there  be  any  occasion.  Let  me  conjure 
you  then,  if  you  have  any  regard  for  your  country,  con 
cern  for  yourself  or  respect  for  me,  to  banish  these 
thoughts  from  your  mind,  and  never  communicate,  as 
from  yourself  or  any  one  else,  a  sentiment  of  the  like 
nature. 

"  With  esteem  I  am,  sir,  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"  GEORGE  WASHINGTON." 

That  Washington  desired  to  be  a  simple  resident  on 
his  own  estate  at  Mount  Vernon  instead  of  king  of  the 
new  country,  was  emphasized  by  a  letter  written  on 
June  15  to  Archibald  Cary : 

"  I  can  truly  say,  that  the  first  wish  of  my  soul  is  to 
return  speedily  into  the  bosom  of  that  country  which 
gave  me  birth,  and,  in  the  sweet  enjoyment  of  domestic 
happiness  and  the  company  of  a  few  friends,  to  end  my 
days  in  quiet,  when  I  shall  be  called  from  this  stage." 


110        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

There  was  joy  in  the  village  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson  when,  late  in  1782,  a  letter  came  from  Sir  Guy 
Carleton  announcing  that  negotiations  for  a  general 
peace  had  already  begun  in  Paris,  and  that  the  king 
had  decided  to  propose  the  independence  of  the  thir 
teen  Provinces  "  in  the  first  instance,  instead  of  grant 
ing  it  as  a  condition  of  a  general  treaty." 

In  the  long  interval  before  the  receipt  of  decisive 
word  concerning  peace,  the  sagacity  of  Washington 
was  once  more  tested  severely.  There  was  still  dis 
affection  among  the  officers  and  the  men  because  they 
had  not  been  paid,  and  because  Congress  seemed  to  pay 
no  attention  to  their  protests.  Washington  learned  that 
a  call  had  been  issued  for  a  meeting  of  officers  to  be 
held  in  New  Windsor  to  consider  taking  matters  into 
their  own  hands  and  forcing  Congress  to  act. 

Washington  did  not  hesitate.  He  asked  the  officers 
to  meet  him  in  the  very  building  in  which  they  had 
planned  to  make  their  plans  for  revolt.  Then  he  ap 
pealed  to  their  patriotism,  urging  them  not  to  put  a 
stain  on  their  noble  service  by  hasty  action.  When  he 
had  gone,  the  officers  acted  in  a  way  that  justified  the 
General's  confidence.  Unanimously  they  promised  all 
that  had  been  asked  of  them,  and  voted  to  thank  Wash 
ington  for  his  method  of  dealing  with  them. 

On  March  19,  1783,  four  days  after  this  action,  Wash 
ington  acknowledged  to  Congress  receipt  of  word  that 
the  preliminary  articles  of  peace  had  been  signed  on 
November  30,  and  on  April  18  he  ordered  the  cessation 
of  hostilities,  in  accordance  with  the  proclamation  of 
Congress. 

The  Hasbrouck  house  was  sold  by  the  family  to  New 
York  State  in  1849.  For  twenty-four  years,  by  act  of 


PATROONS  AND  KNICKERBOCKERS      111 

Assembly,  the  historic  quarters  were  cared  for  by  the 
trustees  of  the  village,  and  later  by  the  city  authorities. 
In  May,  1874,  trustees  appointed  by  the  legislature  took 
over  the  property  and  have  held  it  ever  since,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  people. 


THREE:  ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH 
THE  PATRIOTS 


See  the  ancient  manse 

Meet  Us  fate  at  last! 
Time,  in  his  advance, 

Age  nor  honor  knows; 
Axe  and  broadaxe  fall, 

Lopping  off  the  Past: 
Hit  with  bar  and  maul, 

Down  the  old  house  goes! 

Sevenscore  years  it  stood; 

Yes,  they  built  it  well, 
Though  they  built  of  wood, 

When  that  house  arose. 
For  its  cross-beams  square 

Oak  and  walnut  fell; 
Little  worse  for  wear, 

Down  the  old  house  goes! 

On  these  oaken  floors 

High-shocd  ladies  trod; 
Through  those  panelled  doors 

Trailed  their  furbelows; 
Long  thevr  day  has  ceased; 

Now,  beneath  the  sod, 
With  the  worms  they  feast, — 

Down  the  old  house  goes! 

Many  a  bride  has  stood 

In  yon  spacious  room; 
Here  her  hand  was  wooed 

Underneath  the  rose; 
O'er  that  sill  the  dead 

Reached  the  family  tomb; 
All  that  were  have  fled, — 

Down  the  old  house  goes! 

Once,  in  yonder  hall, 

Washington,  they  say, 
Led  the  New  Year's  ball, 

Stateliest  of  beaux; 
0  that  minuet, 

Maids  and  matrons  gay! 
Are  there  such  sights  yet? 

Down  the  old  house  goes! 

Doorway  high  the  box 

In  the  grass-plot  spreads; 
It  has  borne  its  locks 

Through  a  thousand  snows; 
In  an  evil  day, 

From  those  garden  beds 
Now  'tis  hacked  away, — 

Down  the  old  house  goes! 


EDMUND  CLABENCE  STEDMATT. 


THREE:  ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  THE 
PATRIOTS 

XXIV 

THE  FRANKLIN  PALACE,  PERTH  AMBOY, 
NEW  JERSEY 

THE  HOME  OF  THE  SON  OF  WHOM  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN 
VAINLY  TRIED  TO  MAKE  A  PATRIOT 

There  was  a  time  when  Benjamin  Franklin  was  proud 
of  his  son  William,  and  was  glad  to  have  his  name 
coupled  with  that  of  the  young  man. 

The  first  year  of  the  father's  service  in  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Assembly  William  was  appointed  clerk  of  that 
body;  this  fact  is  mentioned  with  pride  in  the  Auto 
biography. 

When  General  Braddock  was  sent  from  England  to 
America  to  oppose  the  union  of  the  Colonies  for  defence, 
"  lest  they  should  thereby  grow  too  military  and  feel 
their  own  strength,"  Franklin  was  sent  by  the  Assembly 
to  Fredericktown,  Maryland,  to  confer  with  the  Gen 
eral.  "  My  son  accompanied  me  on  the  journey,"  the 
Autobiography  says. 

At  Braddock's  request  Franklin  advertised  at  Lan 
caster,  Pennsylvania,  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  wagons 
for  the  proposed  expedition  into  the  interior,  and  at  the 
close  of  the  advertisement  was  the  note,  "  My  son,  Will- 

115 


116        HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

iam  Franklin,  is  empowered  to  enter  into  like  contracts 
with  any  person  in  Cumberland  County." 

Later,  when  the  father  was  asked  to  secure  financial 
assistance  for  certain  subalterns  in  Braddock's  com 
pany,  he  wrote  to  the  Assembly,  recommending  that  a 
present  of  necessaries  and  refreshments  be  sent  to  those 
officers.  "  My  son,  who  had  some  experience  of  camp 
life  and  of  its  wants,  drew  up  a  list  for  me  which  I 
enclosed  in  my  letter,"  the  father  wrote. 

When,  during  the  French  and  Indian  War,  the  Gov 
ernor  of  Pennsylvania  asked  Franklin  to  take  charge  of 
"  our  Northwestern  frontier  which  was  infested  by  the 
enemy,  and  provide  for  the  defence  of  the  inhabitants 
by  raising  troops  and  building  a  line  of  forts,"  he  went 
to  the  front  with  five  hundred  and  sixty  men.  In  the 
Autobiography  he  wrote,  "  My  son,  who  had  in  the  pre 
ceding  war,  been  an  officer  in  the  army  rais'd  against 
Canada,  was  my  aid-de-camp,  and  of  great  use  to  me." 

And  in  1771,  when  beginning  his  Autobiography, 
Franklin  addressed  it  "  Dear  Son,"  and  spoke  of  the  trip 
the  two  had  taken  together  to  England,  to  make  "  en 
quiries  among  the  remains  of  my  relations."  Then  he 
added : 

"  Imagining  it  may  be  equally  agreeable  to  you  to 
know  the  circumstances  of  my  life,  many  of  which  you 
are  yet  unacquainted  with,  and  expecting  the  enjoyment 
of  a  week's  uninterrupted  leisure  in  my  present  country 
retirement,  I  sit  down  to  write  them  for  you." 

Six  years  before  the  beginning  of  the  Autobiography, 
Franklin,  in  company  with  six  other  Philadelphians, 
entered  on  a  land  speculation  in  Nova  Scotia.  Together 
they  bought  two  hundred  thousand  acres  of  land.  There 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS   117 

they  intended  to  found  a  colony.  Two  shiploads  of  emi 
grants  were  taken  to  Monkton,  the  site  of  the  proposed 
colony,  but  most  of  the  men  settled  on  other  land, 
finding  that  this  could  be  had  practically  for  nothing. 
Franklin's  will  later  provided  that  William  be  given 
an  interest  in  the  Nova  Scotia  property,  and  he  ex 
plained  the  gift  by  saying  that  this  was  "  the  only  part 
of  his  estate  remaining  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  king 
of  Great  Britain." 

What  was  the  explanation  of  the  father's  changed 
attitude  to  his  son  that  led  him  to  make  his  bequest  in 
such  unpleasant  terms? 

After  William  Franklin's  return  from  the  frontier,  he 
was  appointed  governor-in-chief  of  the  Province  of  New 
Jersey.  A  mansion  was  built  for  him  in  Perth  Amboy 
by  the  Lord  Proprietor.  Its  construction  required  a 
somewhat  extended  time,  for  it  was  a  grand  place;  no 
wonder  it  was  called  "  The  Palace."  But  in  1774  the 
Governor  took  possession. 

Of  course  this  was  not  the  reason  for  the  breach  with 
his  father.  Again  Benjamin  Franklin  was  proud  of  his 
son,  and  of  the  lavish  entertainments  he  made  for  his 
associates. 

But  the  father  began  to  shake  his  head  when  his  son 
became  a  favorite  of  the  Tories  in  Perth  Amboy  who 
had  looked  askance  on  his  appointment,  the  year  be 
fore.  He  was  told  that  William  would  himself  remain 
a  loyalist  when  the  break  came  with  Great  Britain,  and 
he  was  compelled  to  believe  that  there  was  serious 
ground  for  the  charge.  He  decided,  however,  to  make  a 
supreme  effort  to  rouse  the  Governor  to  the  call  of 
patriotism.  Accordingly,  in  1775,  he  sought  the 
Palace  and  pleaded  with  William  to  forsake  his  Tory 


118        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

associates,  turn  his  back  on  the  king  who  had  turned 
his  back  on  the  Colonies,  and  become  a  steadfast 
defender  of  his  country's  rights. 

What  a  subject  that  interview  would  make  for  an 
artist!  Opposed  to  the  luxury-loving  governor,  in  the 
house  furnished  for  his  satisfaction  by  the  Tories  with 
whom  he  had  chosen  to  ally  himself,  was  the  sturdy 
figure  of  the  sage  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  ready  to 
lay  down  his  life  in  the  defence  of  his  country. 

It  must  have  been  a  stirring  interview.  But  it  was 
fruitless.  Benjamin  Franklin  went  back  to  Philadel 
phia  a  disappointed  man.  His  feelings  were  expressed 
in  the  letter  in  which  he  said,  "  I  am  deserted  by  my 
only  son." 

Within  a  year  Governor  Franklin  was  practically  a 
prisoner  in  the  Palace,  in  consequence  of  the  discovery 
that  he  was  plotting  against  the  Colonies.  When  he 
persisted  in  courses  that  troubled  Congress,  he  was  ar 
rested  and  taken  to  Burlington.  Mrs.  Franklin  fled  to 
New  York,  and  the  Palace  was  at  the  mercy  of  the 
British.  On  several  occasions  the  house  was  used  as 
headquarters  by  British  generals,  and  soldiers  made 
their  encampment  on  the  grounds. 

Though  the  interior  of  the  Palace  was  destroyed  by 
fire  soon  after  the  war,  the  house  was  restored,  and  it 
still  looks  much  as  it  did  when  Franklin,  the  patriot, 
stood  within  its  walls.  For  years  it  was  used  as  a 
hotel,  and  later  as  a  private  residence.  In  1883  it  was 
made  a  Home  for  aged  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  To-day  it  is  again  used  as  a  hotel. 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS      119 


XXV 

THE  CHURCH  AT  CALDWBLL,  NEW  JERSEY 
WITH  GLIMPSES  OF  THE  FIGHTING  CHAPLAIN  CALDWELL 

The  trying  days  of  the  Revolution  would  not  seem  to 
be  a  favorable  time  for  the  beginning  of  a  church, 
especially  in  the  section  of  New  Jersey  which  was  so 
often  overrun  by  the  soldiers  of  both  armies.  Yet  it 
was  at  this  critical  time  that  many  of  the  people  of 
Horseneck  (now  Caldwell),  New  Jersey,  near  Mont- 
clair,  were  looking  forward  to  the  organization  of  a 
church  and  the  building  of  a  house  of  worship.  Timbers 
were  in  fact  drawn  and  framed  for  church  purposes, 
but  the  war  interfered  with  the  completion  of  the  pro 
ject. 

The  donation,  in  1779,  of  ninety  acres  of  wild  land  in 
the  centre  of  the  settlement  gave  the  prospective  con 
gregation  new  heart.  On  this  land  a  parsonage  was 
begun  in  1782.  The  upper  portion  of  this  house,  un- 
plastered  and  unceiled,  was  used  for  church  purposes 
until  1796. 

The  final  organization  of  the  church  dates  from 
December  3,  1784,  when  forty  persons  signed  their 
names  to  the  following  curious  agreement : 

"  We  Whose  Names  are  Under  writen  Living  at  the 
Place  called  Horse  Neck,  Being  this  Day  to  be  Formed 
or  Embodied  as  a  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  Do  Solemnly 
Declare  that  as  we  do  desire  to  be  founded  Only  on  the 
Rock  Christ  Jesus,  So  we  would  not  wish  to  Build  on 
this  foundation,  Wood  Hay  and  Stubble,  but  Gold  and 
Silver  and  Precious  Stones;  and  as  it  is  our  profested 


120        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Sentiments  that  a  Visible  Church  of  Christ,  Consists  of 
Visible  Believers  with  their  Children,  so  no  Adult  Per 
sons  ought  to  be  Admitted  as  members  but  such  as 
Credibly  profess  True  Faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  Love, 
Obedience,  and  Subjection  to  Him,  Holding  the  Funda 
mental  Doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  and  who  will  Solemnly 
Enter  into  Covenant  to  Walk  Worthy  such  an  Holy 
Profession  as  we  do  this  Day." 

The  last  survivor  of  those  who  signed  this  document 
was  General  William  Gould,  who  died  February  12, 
1847,  in  his  ninetieth  year.  During  the  Revolution  he 
saw  much  active  service,  especially  at  the  battles  of 
Springfield  and  Monmouth  and  the  campaigns  that  pre 
ceded  and  followed  these  conflicts. 

But  the  connection  of  the  church  with  the  Revolution 
came  rather  through  Rev.  James  Caldwell,  who  was 
pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Elizabeth 
Town.  During  the  early  years  of  the  struggling  con 
gregation  he  was  their  adviser  and  helper,  and  after  his 
death  the  name  of  the  church  was  changed  to  Caldwell, 
in  his  honor. 

Mr.  Caldwell — who  had  among  his  parishioners  in 
Elizabeth  Town  William  Livingston,  the  Governor  of 
the  State,  Elias  Boudinot,  Commissary  General  of 
Prisons  and  President  of  Congress,  Abraham  Clark,  one 
of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as 
well  as  more  than  forty  commissioned  officers  of  the 
Continental  Army — was  one  of  the  famous  chaplains  of 
the  war,  having  been  chosen  in  1776  chaplain  of  the 
regiment  largely  made  up  of  his  own  members.  Later 
lie  was  Assistant  Commissary  General. 

The  British  called  him  the  "  Fighting  Chaplain,"  and 
he  was  cordially  hated  because  of  his  zeal  for  the  cause 
of  the  patriots.  His  life  was  always  in  danger,  and 


MORVEN,   PRINCETON,   N.  .1. 


Photo  by  R.   II .  Ro.'.t  nnd  tion,  Princeton 
Seo  page  134 


THE  FRANKLIN  PALACE,  PERTH  AMBOY,   N.  J. 


Photo  furnished  by  W.  A.  Little,  D.  D.,  Perth  Amboij 

See  page  115 


OLD  TENNENT  CHURCH,  FREEHOLD,  N,  .1. 


b,/  Hall'*  Studio,  Freehold 
See  page  122 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS     121 

when  he  was  able  to  spend  a  Sunday  with  his  congre 
gation  he  would  preach  with  his  cavalry  pistols  on  the 
pulpit,  while  sentinels  were  stationed  at  the  doors  to 
give  warning. 

The  enmity  of  the  British  led  to  the  burning  of  the 
chaplain's  church,  and  the  murder,  a  few  months  later, 
of  Mrs.  Caldwell.  While  she  was  sitting  in  a  rear 
room  at  the  house  at  Connecticutt  Farms,  where  she 
had  been  sent  for  safety,  surrounded  by  her  children, 
a  soldier  thrust  his  musket  through  the  window  and 
fired  at  her. 

Mr.  Caldwell  survived  the  war,  in  spite  of  the  efforts 
of  the  British  to  capture  him,  only  to  be  murdered  on 
November  24,  1781,  by  a  Continental  soldier  who  was 
thought  to  have  been  bribed  by  those  whose  enmity  the 
chaplain  had  earned  during  the  conflict. 

The  Elizabeth  Town  congregation  succeeded  in  re 
building  their  church  five  years  after  it  was  destroyed, 
but  the  delayed  Caldwell  church  building  was  not  ready 
for  its  occupants  until  1795.  The  timbers  for  the  church 
were  hewed  in  the  forest  where  the  trees  were  felled  and 
were  drawn  by  oxen  to  the  site  selected.  Forty  men 
worked  several  days  to  raise  the  frame.  Lime  was  made 
from  sea  shells,  which  were  hauled  from  Bergen,  and 
then  burned  in  a  kiln  erected  near  the  church  lot. 

The  interior  of  the  building  was  plain.  The  pulpit, 
"  about  the  size  of  a  hogshead,"  was  built  on  a  single 
pillar,  against  the  wall;  above  this  was  a  sounding 
board.  The  windows  had  neither  blinds  nor  curtains, 
and  nothing  was  painted  but  the  pulpit.  The  backs  of 
the  pews  were  exactly  perpendicular.  Provision  was 
made  regularly  for  the  purchase  of  sand  to  freshen  the 
floors.  This  building  was  burned  in  1872. 


122        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

The  first  pastor,  Rev.  Stephen  Grover,  received  as 
salary  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  a  year,  though  this 
sum  was  to  be  increased  ten  dollars  a  year  until  the  total 
was  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  Of  course  the  use 
of  the  parsonage  and  land  was  given  in  addition. 

Mr.  Grover  was  pastor  for  forty-six  years,  and  his 
successor  was  Rev.  Richard  F.  Cleveland,  to  whose  son, 
born  in  the  old  manse  at  Caldwell, — which  was  pur 
chased  in  1912  by  the  Grover  Cleveland  Birthplace 
Memorial  Association, — was  given  the  name  Stephen 
Grover,  in  memory  of  the  first  pastor  of  the  church. 
Forty-seven  years  later  Stephen  Grover  Cleveland  be 
came  President  of  the  United  States. 

For  the  first  ten  months  of  its  history  the  Caldwell 
church  was  Presbyterian,  then  it  became  Congrega 
tional,  but  since  1831  it  has  been  a  Presbyterian  body. 


XXVI 

OLD  TENNENT  CHURCH,  FREEHOLD, 
NEW  JERSEY 

ON  THE  BATTLE  FIELD  OF  MONMOUTH 

One  of  the  bas-reliefs  on  the  monument  commemo 
rating  the  decisive  Battle  of  Monmouth,  which  has  been 
called  the  turning-point  of  the  War  for  Independence, 
represents  the  famous  Molly  Pitcher  as  she  took  the 
place  at  the  gun  of  her  disabled  husband.  In  the  back 
ground  of  the  relief  is  the  roof  and  steeple  of  Old  Ten- 
nent,  the  church  near  which  the  battle  raged  all  day 
long. 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS     123 

Tennent  Presbyterian  Church  was  organized  about 
1692.  The  first  building  was  probably  built  of  logs. 
The  second  structure,  more  ambitious,  was  planned  in 
1730.  Twenty  years  later  a  third  structure  was  de 
manded  by  the  growing  congregation.  This  building, 
which  was  twenty-seven  years  old  at  the  time  of  the 
battle  of  Monmouth,  is  still  standing. 

The  plan  called  for  a  building  sixty  feet  long  and 
forty  feet  wide.  The  present  pastor  of  the  church,  Rev. 
Frank  R.  Symmes,  in  his  story  of  the  church,  says  of 
the  building : 

"  The  sides  were  sheathed  with  long  cedar  shingles, 
and  fastened  with  nails  patiently  wrought  out  on  an 
anvil,  and  the  interior  was  finished  with  beaded  and 
panelled  Jersey  pine.  .  .  .  The  pulpit  ...  is  placed 
on  the  north  side  of  the  room,  against  the  wall,  with 
narrow  stairs  leading  up  to  it,  closed  in  with  a  door. 
The  Bible  desk  is  nine  feet  above  the  audience 
floor,  with  a  great  sounding  board  overhanging  the 
whole.  .  .  .  Below  the  main  pulpit  a  second  desk 
or  sub-pulpit  is  built,  where  the  precentor  used  to 
stand.  .  .  .  The  galleries  extend  along  three  sides  of 
the  room." 

Among  the  early  pastors  of  the  church  were  Rev.  John 
Tennent  and  his  brother,  Rev.  William  Tennent,  mem 
bers  of  a  family  famous  in  the  early  history  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  in  New  Jersey.  In  consequence  of 
their  forty-seven  years  of  service  the  church  became 
known  as  "  Old  Tennent." 

The  story  of  the  marriage  of  Rev.  William  Tennent 
is  a  tradition  in  the  congregation.  In  spite  of  his  salary 
of  about  one  hundred  pounds,  and  the  use  of  the  parson 
age  farm,  he  became  financially  embarrassed.  A  friend 


124        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

from  New  York  who  visited  him  when  he  was  thirty- 
three  years  old  told  him  he  ought  to  marry  and  sug 
gested  a  widow  of  his  acquaintance.  Mr.  Tennent 
agreed  to  the  proposition  that  he  go  to  New  York  in 
company  with  his  friend,  and  see  if  matters  could  not 
be  arranged.  So,  before  noon  next  day,  he  was  intro 
duced  to  Mrs.  Noble.  "  He  was  much  pleased  with  her 
appearance,"  the  story  goes  on,  "  and  when  left  alone 
with  her,  abruptly  told  her  that  he  supposed  her  brother 
had  informed  her  of  his  errand;  that  neither  his  time 
nor  his  inclination  would  suffer  him  to  use  much  cere 
mony,  but  that  if  she  approved  ...  he  would  return  on 
Monday,  be  married,  and  immediately  take  her  home." 
Thus  in  one  week  she  found  herself  mistress  of  his 
house.  She  proved  a  most  invaluable  treasure  to  him. 
The  year  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Tennent,  on  Sunday, 
June  28, 1778,  General  Washington,  at  the  head  of  about 
six  thousand  men,  hurried  by  Old  Tennent.  That 
morning  he  had  been  at  Englishtown  where  the  sound 
of  cannon  told  him  his  advance  forces  under  General 
Lee  were  battling  with  the  British.  Washington  was 
about  one  hundred  yards  beyond  the  church  door  when 
he  met  the  first  straggler  who  told  him  that  Lee  had 
retreated  before  the  British.  A  little  further  on  the 
Commander-in-chief  met  Lee.  After  rebuking  him 
sharply  he  hastened'  forward,  and  rallied  the  retreating 
Continentals.  The  renewed  battle  continued  until 
evening  when  the  British  were  driven  back  to  a  de 
fensive,  position.  During  the  night  they  retired,  to  the 
surprise  of  Washington,  who  hoped  to  renew  the  battle 
in  the  morning.  The  victory  snatched  from  defeat  in 
this,  one  of  the  most  stubbornly  contested  and  longest 
battles  of  the  war,  gave  new  courage  to  the  Colonies. 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS     125 

During  the  battle  wounded  soldiers  were  carried  to 
the  church,  where  members  of  the  congregation  tended 
them,  in  what  could  not  have  been  a  very  secure  refuge, 
since  musket  balls  pierced  the  walls.  An  exhausted 
American  soldier,  while  trying  to  make  his  way  to  the 
building,  sat  for  rest  on  the  grave  of  Sarah  Mattison. 
While  he  was  there  a  cannon  ball  wounded  him  and 
broke  off  a  piece  of  the  headstone.  Watchers  carried 
him  into  the  church  where  he  was  laid  on  one  of  the 
pews.  The  stains  of  blood  are  still  to  be  seen  on  the 
board  seat,  while  the  marks  of  his  hands  were  visible  on 
the  book-rest  of  the  pew  until  the  wood  was  grained. 

A  tablet  has  been  placed  on  the  front  wall  of  the 
church  with  this  message : 

1778-1901 

In  Grateful  Remembrance 

of  Patriots  Who,  on  Sabbath  June  28,  1778, 

Gained  the  Victory  Which  Was  the  Turning  Point 

Of  the  War  for  Independence, 
And  to  Mark  a  Memorable  Spot  on 

The  Battlefield  of  Monmouth, 

This  Tablet  is  placed  by  Monmouth  Chapter 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution 

September  26,  1901. 

Not  far  from  the  church  is  the  monument  commemo 
rating  the  battle  itself.  Spirited  bronze  reliefs  on  this 
tell  the  story  of  some  of  the  picturesque  incidents  of 
the  memorable  struggle. 


126        HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 


XXVII 

THE  FORD  MANSION,  MORRISTOWN, 
NEW  JERSEY 

FROM  WHICH  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON  WENT  COURTING 

New  Jersey,  which  was  the  scene  of  so  many  battles 
during  the  Revolution,  was  also  the  scene  of  what  was 
perhaps  Washington's  pleasantest  winter  during  the 
war.  From  December,  1799,  to  June,  1780,  the  Com 
mander-in-chief  lived  at  the  Ford  Mansion  with  his 
"  family,"  as  he  was  fond  of  calling  Mrs.  Washington 
and  his  aides. 

During  these  months  he  was  busily  engaged  in  making 
plans  for  the  later  successful  conduct  of  the  war,  yet 
he  took  time  for  those  social  relaxations  which  were  a 
needed  relief  from  the  anxious  strain  of  the  long  con 
flict. 

Among  those  who  helped  to  make  that  winter  memo 
rable  were  Surgeon  General  John  Cochrane  and  Mrs. 
Cochrane,  who  occupied  the  Campfield  House  close  by, 
and  General  and  Mrs.  Philip  Schuyler,  who  had  come 
down  from  Albany  for  a  season  at  headquarters.  Mrs. 
Schuyler  and  Mrs.  Cochrane  were  sisters.  Elizabeth 
Schuyler  had  come  in  advance  of  her  parents,  and  for 
a  time  was  a  guest  at  the  Campfield  House. 

Visitors  from  France  were  arriving  from  time  to  time, 
bringing  word  of  the  alliance  that  was  to  mean  so  much 
to  the  Colonies,  and  conferring  as  to  methods  of  co 
operation. 

In  one  wing  of  the  Ford  Mansion  lived  Mrs.  Ford 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS      127 

and  her  son  Timothy.  In  the  rooms  set  apart  for 
the  use  of  Washington's  family  eighteen  people  were 
crowded.  Two  of  these  were  Alexander  Hamilton  and 
Tench  Tilghman,  both  members  of  the  General's  staff. 

Though  Mrs.  Washington  delighted  to  put  on  style, 
on  occasion,  she  could  also  be  plain  and  simple.  There 
had  been  times  during  the  war  when  she  was  not 
ashamed  to  drive  to  headquarters  in  a  coach  and  four. 
But  sometimes  at  Morristown  she  was  in  a  different 
mood — as,  for  instance,  one  day  when  a  number  of  the 
ladies  of  the  neighborhood,  dressed  in  their  best,  called 
to  pay  their  respects  to  her.  To  their  surprise  they 
found  her  sitting  in  a  speckled  apron,  knitting  stockings. 
If  they  were  ill  at  ease  at  first,  their  state  of  mind  can 
be  imagined  when  their  hostess  began  to  talk  to  them 
of  the  need  of  care  in  their  expenditures  for  their  coun 
try's  sake.  After  telling  them  of  a  dress  she  had  made 
out  of  the  carefully  unravelled  upholstery  of  a  set  of 
chairs,  she  completed  their  consternation  by  saying  : 

"American  ladies  should  be  patterns  of  industry  to 
their  countrywomen,  because  the  separation  from  the 
mother-country  will  dry  up  the  source  whence  many  of 
our  comforts  have  been  derived.  We  must  become  inde 
pendent  by  our  determination  to  do  without  what 
we  cannot  make  ourselves.  While  our  husbands  and 
brothers  are  examples  of  patriotism,  we  must  be 
examples  of  thrift  and  economy." 

The  coming  of  Elizabeth  Schuyler  to  the  Campfield 
House  was  the  signal  for  a  spirited  contest  for  her 
favor  between  two  of  Washington's  aides.  Both  Ham 
ilton  and  Tilghman  had  met  her  at  her  father's  house 
in  Albany,  and  both  called  on  her.  But  Hamilton 


128        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

soon  distanced  his  comrade  in  the  race  for  her  favor. 
It  was  not  long  until  everybody  was  watching  develop 
ments.  Both  of  the  young  people  were  favorites.  It 
is  related  that  even  a  young  soldier  on  sentry  duty  late 
one  night  was  persuaded  to  a  breach  of  military  rules 
by  his  interest  in  Hamilton's  courtship.  That  night  the 
lover  was  on  his  way  home  after  spending  an  evening 
with  his  Betsey.  Evidently  the  young  man  had  been 
thinking  of  anything  but  the  countersign,  for  when  he 
was  halted  and  asked  to  give  the  countersign  words 
he  cudgelled  his  brain  in  vain.  Then  he  whispered  to 
the  sentry,  "  Tell  me ! "  And  the  sentry  did  tell. 
Whereupon  Hamilton  drew  himself  up  before  the  sol 
dier,  gravely  gave  the  countersign,  and  passed  on  to 
his  quarters. 

There  was  no  time  for  long  courtship  in  those  days 
of  quick  movements  in  military  circles.  So,  before  long, 
Hamilton  was  writing  to  Elizabeth  Schuyler  such  cheer 
ing  letters  as  the  following : 

"  I  would  not  have  you  imagine,  Miss,  that  I  write 
you  so  often  to  gratify  your  wishes  or  please  your 
vanity,  but  merely  to  indulge  myself,  and  to  comply 
with  that  restless  property  of  my  mind  which  will  not 
be  happy  unless  I  am  doing  something,  in  which  you 
are  concerned.  This  may  seem  a  very  idle  disposition 
in  a  philosopher  and  a  soldier;  but  I  can  plead  illus 
trious  examples  in  my  justification.  Achilles  liked  to 
have  sacrificed  Greece  and  his  glory  for  a  female  cap 
tive;  and  Anthony  lost  the  world  for  a  woman.  I  am 
very  sorry  times  are  so  changed  as  to  oblige  me  to  go 
to  antiquity  for  my  apology,  but  I  confess  to  the  dis 
grace  of  the  present  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  find 
as  many  who  are  as  far  gone  as  myself  in  their  laudable 
zeal  of  the  fair  sex.  I  suspect,  however,  that  if  others 
knew  the  charms  of  my  sweetheart  as  well  as  I  do,  I 


ACEOSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS      129 

should  have  a  great  number  of  competitors.  I  wish  I 
could  give  you  an  idea  of  her.  You  have  no  conception 
of  how  sweet  a  girl  she  is.  It  is  only  in  my  heart  that 
her  image  is  truly  drawn.  She  has  a  comely  form,  and 
a  mind  still  more  lovely ;  she  is  all  goodness,  the  gentlest, 
the  dearest,  the  tenderest  of  her  sex.  Oh,  Betsey,  how 
I  love  her !  " 

Who  could  withstand  such  a  lover?  Elizabeth 
Schuyler  did  not,  and  her  father  commended  her  judg 
ment.  For  he  wrote  to  Hamilton : 

"  You  cannot,  my  dear  sir,  be  more  happy  at  the  con 
nexion  you  have  made  with  my  family  than  I  am. 
Until  the  child  of  a  parent  has  made  a  judicious  choice, 
his  heart  is  in  critical  anxiety;  but  this  anxiety  was 
removed  the  moment  I  discovered  on  whom  she  had 
placed  her  affection.  I  am  pleased  with  every  instance 
of  delicacy  in  those  who  are  dear  to  me;  and  I  think  I 
read  your  soul  on  that  occasion  you  mention.  I  shall 
therefore  only  entreat  you  to  consider  me  as  one  who 
wishes  in  every  way  to  promote  your  happiness,  and  I 
shall." 

The  young  people  were  married  at  the  Schuyler  home 
stead  in  Albany  on  December  14,  1780. 

To-day  the  Ford  Mansion  where  Hamilton  dreamed 
of  a  conquest  in  which  the  British  had  no  part  is  owned 
by  the  Washington  Association  of  New  Jersey,  and  is 
open  to  visitors.  The  Campfield  House  is  to  be  found 
on  a  side  street;  it  has  been  moved  from  its  original 
site. 


130        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 


XXVIII 

NASSAU  HALL,  PRINCETON,  NEW  JERSEY 
WHERE  THE  CONGRESS  OF  1783  MET  FOR  FIVE  MONTHS 

Where  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  as  Princeton  Uni 
versity  was  officially  known  until  1896,  erected  its  first 
building  at  Princeton,  the  far-sighted  trustees  arranged 
what  was  long  ago  the  largest  stone  structure  in  the 
Colonies.  The  records  of  early  travellers  on  the  road 
between  Philadelphia  and  New  York  tell  of  their  amaze 
ment  at  the  wonderful  building. 

In  1756  the  college  abandoned  its  rooms  in  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Newark,  New  Jersey,  and  oc 
cupied  the  ambitious  quarters  in  Princeton,  which  had 
cost  about  £2,900. 

Originally  the  halls  extended  from  end  to  end  of 
Nassau  Hall,  a  distance  of  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  feet.  These  long,  brick-paved  halls  afforded  stu 
dents  inclined  to  mischief  wonderful  opportunity  to 
make  life  miserable  for  the  tutors  who  were  charged 
with  their  oversight.  "  Rolling  heated  cannon  balls,  to 
tempt  zealous  but  unwary  tutors,  was  a  perennial  joy," 
writes  Varnum  Lansing  Collins,  in  his  book,  "  Prince 
ton."  Then  he  adds  the  statement  that  at  a  later  epoch 
there  were  wild  scenes,  "  when  a  jackass  or  a  calf  was 
dragged  rebelliously  up  the  narrow  iron  staircase,  to  be 
pitted  in  frenzied  races  with  the  model  locomotive  pur 
loined  from  the  college  museum." 

There  was  no  provision  for  lighting  the  long  halls,  so 
the  rollicking  students  were  accustomed  to  fix  candles  to 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS     131 

the  walls  with  handfuls  of  mud.  When  a  tutor  was 
heard  approaching,  the  candles  would  be  blown  out  and 
he  would  be  foiled  in  his  attempt  to  identify  the  of 
fenders.  Sometimes  barricades  of  cordwood  were  built 
hastily  on  the  stairs  or  across  the  entrance  to  one  of  the 
halls. 

In  vain  the  authorities  tried  to  correct  these  abuses 
by  the  passage  of  strict  regulations.  "  No  jumping  or 
hollowing  or  any  boisterous  Noise  shall  be  suffered,  nor 
walking  in  the  gallery  in  the  time  of  Study,"  was  a 
regulation  which  could  be  made  known  far  more  easily 
than  it  could  be  enforced.  Lest  there  be  breaches  of 
decorum  inside  the  rooms,  tutors  were  directed  to  make 
at  least  three  trips  a  day  to  the  quarters  of  the  students, 
to  see  that  they  were  "  diligent  at  the  proper  Business." 
They  were  to  announce  their  coming  to  a  room  "  by  a 
stamp,  which  signal  no  scholar  shall  imitate  on  penalty 
of  five  shillings."  Should  the  occupant  of  the  room  re 
fuse  to  open  the  door,  the  tutor  had  authority  to  break 
in.  At  a  later  date,  students  in  Nassau  Hall  liked  to 
have  double  doors  to  their  rooms,  so  that  the  obnoxious 
tutor  might  be  hindered  in  his  efforts  to  force  an  en 
trance,  long  enough  to  give  them  opportunity  to  hide 
all  evidence  of  wrongdoing. 

In  1760  a  code  of  "  orders  and  customs  "  was  issued 
by  the  authority  of  President  Aaron  Burr.  One  of  the 
most  astounding  directions  in  this  code  was  that  "  Every 
Freshman  sent  on  an  errand  shall  go  and  do  it  faith 
fully  and  make  quick  return."  Other  rules,  as  indicated 
in  Mr.  Collins'  book,  concerned  deportment,  and  de 
manded  constant  deference  to  superiors.  "  Students 
are  to  keep  their  hats  off  '  about  ten  rods  to  the  Presi 
dent  and  about  five  to  the  tutors; '  they  must  t  rise  up 


132        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

and  make  obeisance '  when  the  President  enters  or 
leaves  the  prayer  hall,  and  when  he  mounts  into  the 
pulpit  on  Sundays.  When  walking  with  a  superior,  an 
inferior  '  shall  give  him  the  highest  place.'  When  first 
coming  into  the  presence  of  a  superior,  or  speaking  to 
him,  inferiors  '  shall  respect  by  pulling  their  Hats ;'  if 
overtaking  or  meeting  a  superior  on  the  stairs,  he  <  shall 
stop,  giving  him  the  banister  side ; '  when  entering  a 
superior's,  (  or  even  an  equal's '  room,  they  must  knock ; 
if  called  or  spoken  to  by  a  superior,  they  must  '  give  a 
direct,  pertinent  answer  concluding  with  sir ; '  they  are 
to  treat  strangers  and  townspeople  '  with  all  proper 
complaisance  and  good  manners ; '  and  they  are  for 
bidden  to  address  any  one  by  a  nickname." 

Evidently  rules  like  these  helped  to  make  good 
patriots,  for  Princeton  students  were  among  the  most 
sturdy  adherents  of  the  Colonists'  cause.  In  September, 
1770,  the  entire  graduating  class  wore  American  cloth, 
as  a  protest  against  Great  Britain's  unjust  taxation 
measures. 

In  January,  1774,  the  students  broke  into  the  college 
storeroom  and  carried  the  winter's  supply  of  tea  to  a 
bonfire  in  front  of  Nassau  Hall.  While  the  tea  burned 
the  college  bell  tolled  and  the  students — in  the  words 
written  home  to  a  parent  by  one  of  them — made  "  many 
spirited  resolves." 

The  spirited  students  were  jubilant  on  the  evening  of 
July  9,  1776,  when  the  news  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  was  read  in  Princeton.  Nassau  Hall  was 
illuminated  and  the  whole  town  rejoiced  that  President 
Witherspoon,  as  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress, 
had  been  a  signer  of  the  document. 

In  November,  1776,  the  students  who  had  not  enlisted 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS      133 

in  the  army  were  sent  from  the  town  just  in  time  to 
escape  the  British,  who  took  possession  of  the  building 
and  used  it  as  barracks  and  hospital.  Early  in  the 
morning  of  January  3,  1777,  the  British  held  the  build 
ing.  After  the  battle  Washington's  troops  took  pos 
session,  but  abandoned  it  almost  at  once.  At  evening 
the  British  were  once  more  in  control.  Soon  they  hur 
ried  on  to  New  Brunswick.  The  next  occupants  were 
the  soldiers  of  General  Putnam,  who  found  room  here 
for  a  hospital,  a  barracks,  and  a  military  prison.  They 
found  that  during  the  battle  of  Princeton  a  round  shot 
had  struck  the  portrait  of  George  II  in  the  prayer  hall. 

After  the  British  left  Princeton  College  classes  were 
continued  in  the  President's  house,  and  it  was  1782  be 
fore  a  serious  attempt  was  made  to  reoccupy  Nassau 
Hall,  which  was  found  to  be  "  mostly  bare  partition 
walls  and  heaps  of  fallen  plaster." 

A  year  later,  when  temporary  repairs  had  been  made, 
the  Continental  Congress,  which  had  been  besieged  by 
a  company  of  troops  who  were  insistent  in  their  de 
mands  for  overdue  pay,  made  its  way  to  Princeton. 
From  June  to  November  the  sessions  were  held  in 
Nassau  Hall.  Commencement  day  came  during  the 
sessions  and  Congress  sat,  with  Washington,  on  the 
platform.  On  that  occasion  Washington  gave  fifty 
pounds  to  the  college.  This  sum  was  paid  to  Charles 
Wilson  Peale  for  a  portrait  of  the  donor,  which  was 
placed  in  the  frame  from  which  the  portrait  of  George 
II  had  been  shot  more  than  seven  years  before. 

Congress  was  still  in  session  at  Nassau  Hall  when,  in 
October,  the  first  authentic  news  came  of  the  signing  of 
the  Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace  with  Great  Britain. 

A  few  weeks  later  the  college  was  left  to  its  sedate 


134        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

ways.  Never  since  then  has  it  witnessed  such  stirring 
events.  But  the  experiences  of  the  years  from  1776  to 
1784  had  made  Nassau  Hall  one  of  the  nation's  pic 
turesque  monuments. 


XXIX 

THREE  HISTORIC  HOUSES  AT  PRINCETON, 
NEW  JERSEY 

MORVEN,  THE  MERCER  HOUSE,  AND  WASHINGTON'S 
ROCKY  HILL  HEADQUARTERS 

"  Sollemnity  &  Distress  appeared  almost  on  every 
countenance,  several  students  that  had  come  5  &  600 
miles  &  just  got  letters  in  college  were  now  obliged 
under  every  disadvantage  to  retire  with  their  effects, 
or  leave  them  behind,  which  several  through  the  impos 
sibility  of  getting  a  carriage  at  so  Confused  a  time  were 
glad  to  do,  &  lose  them  all,  as  all  hopes  of  continuing 
longer  in  peace  at  Nassau  were  now  taken  away  I  began 
to  look  out  for  some  place  where  I  might  pursue  my 
studies  &  as  Mr.  G.  Johnson  had  spoke  to  me  to  teach 
his  son  I  accordingly  went  there  &  agreed  to  stay  with 
him  till  spring." 

So  wrote  John  Clark,  one  of  the  students  at  the  Col 
lege  of  New  Jersey,  who,  in  1776,  was  dismayed  by  the 
threatened  approach  of  Cornwallis  and  his  army.  He 
was  able  to  remove  his  effects  in  ample  time,  for  he  had 
only  a  "  Trunk  &  Desk."  But  there  were  others  in  the 
peaceful  village  who  were  not  so  fortunate.  One  of 
them  was  Mrs.  Richard  Stockton  of  Morven,  a  beautiful 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS     135 

home  still  standing  not  far  from  the  college  campus. 
The  activity  of  her  husband  in  the  interests  of  the 
Colonies  had  angered  the  British,  and  they  were  not 
slow  to  take  advantage  of  the  absence  of  the  family  by 
pillaging  the  mansion  and  destroying  many  things  it 
contained.  Fortunately  Mrs.  Stockton,  before  leaving 
hurriedly  for  Freehold,  had  buried  the  family  silver, 
and  this  was  not  discovered,  though  Cornwallis  and  his 
officers  occupied  the  house  as  headquarters. 

Probably,  while  they  were  here,  they  talked  gleefully 
of  what  they  called  the  collapse  of  the  war.  They  felt 
so  sure  that  the  war  was  over  that  Cornwallis  was 
already  planning  to  return  to  England. 

Then  came  the  surprise  at  Trenton,  when  nearly  a 
thousand  Hessians  of  a  total  force  of  twelve  hundred 
were  captured. 

Immediately  Cornwallis,  who  had  returned  to  New 
York,  hastened  back  to  Princeton,  where  he  left  three 
regiments  and  a  company  of  cavalry.  Then  he  hurried 
on  to  Trenton.  On  the  way  he  was  harassed  by  Wash 
ington's  outposts,  and  the  main  force  of  the  General 
delayed  his  entrance  into  the  town  until  nightfall.  He 
expected  to  renew  the  attack  next  morning,  but  during 
the  night  Washington  stole  away  toward  Princeton. 
Within  two  miles  of  Princeton  the  force  of  General 
Mercer  encountered  the  reserve  troops  of  Cornwallis, 
which  were  on  their  way  to  their  commander's  assist 
ance.  Washington,  hearing  the  sound  of  the  conflict 
that  followed,  hastened  to  the  field  in  time  to  rally  the 
forces  of  Mercer,  who  had  been  wounded.  The  day  was 
saved,  but  General  Mercer  was  lost ;  he  died  in  the  farm 
house  on  the  battle  field  to  which  he  was  carried.  To 
this  day  visitors  are  shown  the  stain  made  on  the  floor 


136        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

by  the  blood  of  the  dying  man.      Those  who  express 
doubt  as  to  the  stain  are  not  welcomed. 

Alfred  Noyes  has  written  of  this  conflict  which  meant 
more  to  the  struggling  Colonies  than  some  historians 
have  indicated.  The  reference  in  the  first  line  of  the 
second  stanza  is  to  the  tigers  that  crouch  at  the  entrance 
of  Nassau  Hall  in  Princeton : 

"Here  Freedom  stood  by  slaughtered  friend  and  fov, 

And,  ere  the  wrath  paled  or  that  sunset  died, 
Looked  through  the  ages;  then,  with  eyes  aglow, 
Laid  them  to  wait  that  future,  side  by  side. 


"The  dark  bronze  tigers  crouch  on  either  side 

Where  redcoats  used  to  pass ; 
And  round  the  bird-loved  house  where  Mercer  died, 

And  violets  dusk  the  grass, 
By  Stony  Brook  that  ran  so  red  of  old, 

But  sings  of  friendship  now, 
To  feed  the  old  enemy's  harvest  fifty-fold 

The  green  earth  takes  the  plow. 

"  Through  this  May  night,  if  one  great  ghost  should  stray 

With  deep  remembering  eyes, 
Where  that  old  meadow  of  battle  smiles  away 

Its  blood-stained  memories, 
If  Washington  should  walk,  where  friend  and  foe 

Sleep  and  forget  the  past, 
Be  sure  his  unquenched  heart  would  leap  to  know 

Their  souls  are  linked  at  last." 

After  the  battle  came  happier  days  for  Princeton. 
Morven  was  restored,  and  Washington  was  frequently 
an  honored  guest  within  the  walls,  as  have  been  many 
of  his  successors  in  the  White  House. 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS     137 

More  than  six  years  after,  the  memorable  battle  of 
Princeton,  another  house  in  the  neighborhood  received 
him.  When  Congress  convened  in  Nassau  Hall,  it 
rented  for  Washington  the  Rocky  Hill  House,  five  miles 
from  the  village,  which  was  occupied  by  John  Berrian, 
Associate  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Jersey. 
This  house,  which  was  suitably  furnished  for  the  Gen 
eral,  was  the  last  headquarters  of  the  Revolution. 

While  at  the  Berrian  house,  Washington  sat  to  Will 
iam  Dunlap  for  his  portrait.  In  his  "  Arts  of  Design  " 
the  artist,  who  at  the  time  of  which  he  wrote  was  eight 
een  years  old,  said : 

"  My  visits  are  now  frequent  to  headquarters.  The 
only  military  in  the  neighborhood  were  the  general's 
suite  and  a  corporal's  guard  whose  tents  were  on  the 
green  before  the  Berrian  House,  and  the  captain's 
marquee  nearly  in  front.  The  soldiers  were  New  Eng 
land  yeomen's  sons,  none  older  than  twenty.  ...  I  was 
quite  at  home  in  every  respect  at  headquarters ;  to  break 
fast  and  dine  day  after  day  with  the  general  and  Mrs. 
Washington  and  members  of  Congress." 

It  was  Washington's  custom  to  ride  to  Princeton, 
mounted  on  a  small  roan  horse.  The  saddle  was  "  old 
and  crooked,  with  a  short  deep  blue  saddle  cloth  flow 
ered,  with  buff  cloth  at  the  edge,  buckskin  seat,  the  cloth 
most  below  the  skirt  of  the  saddle  at  the  side,  double 
skirts,  crupper,  surcingle,  and  breast  straps,  double 
belted  steel  bridle  and  plated  stirrup." 

The  real  closing  scene  in  the  Revolution  was  Wash 
ington's  farewell  address  to  the  army,  which  he  wrote 
in  the  southwest  room  of  the  second  story.  On  Sunday, 
November  2,  from  the  second-story  balcony,  he  read  this 


138        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

to  the  soldiers.     Two  days  later  orders  of  discharge  were 
issued  to  most  of  them. 

Fortunately  the  Berrian  House  has  become  the  prop 
erty  of  "  The  Washington  Headquarters  Association  of 
Rocky  Hill,"  and  is  open  to  the  patriotic  pilgrim. 


XXX 

THE  SPRINGFIELD  MEETING  HOUSE, 
NEW  JERSEY 

WHOSE  PSALM  BOOKS  FURNISHED  WADDING  FOR  THE 
CONTINENTAL  GUNS 

"  One  pint  of  spring  water  when  demanded  on  the 
premises  "  was  the  strange  payment  stipulated  by  the 
donor  of  one  hundred  acres  of  land  given  in  1751  to 
the  trustees  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Spring 
field,  New  Jersey,  to  be  for  the  use  of  the  minister  of 
the  parish.  The  church  records  do  not  state  that  the 
rent  has  been  paid  regularly,  but  they  do  state  that  the 
woodland  enabled  them  for  many  years  to  furnish  the 
free  firewood  that  was  a  part  of  the  support  promised 
to  every  one  of  the  early  pastors. 

The  first  building  occupied  by  the  church  was  com 
pleted  in  1746.  Fifteen  years  later  the  second  building 
was  first  occupied,  and  it  continued  to  be  the  centre 
of  the  community's  religious  life  until  November,  1778, 
when  it  was  needed  for  military  stores.  The  church 
was  gladly  given  up  to  the  army,  and  services  were 
held  in  the  garret  of  the  parsonage. 

The  British  under  General  Knyphausen,  determined 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS      139 

to  drive  Washington  and  his  men  from  the  New  Jersey 
hills  and  to  destroy  his  supplies,  marched  from  Eliza 
beth  Town  on  June  23,  1780.  There  were  five  thousand 
men,  with  fifteen  or  twenty  pieces  of  artillery,  in  the 
expedition.  A  few  miles  away,  near  Springfield,  was  a 
small  company  of  patriots,  poorly  equipped  but  ready 
to  die  in  the  defence  of  their  country. 

Warning  of  the  approach  of  the  enemy  was  given 
to  the  Continentals  by  the  firing  of  the  eighteen-pounder 
signal  gun  on  Prospect  Hill;  twelve  Continentals  sta 
tioned  at  the  Cross  Roads,  after  firing  on  the  enemy,  had 
hurried  to  the  hill.  After  firing  the  gun  they  lighted 
the  tar  barrel  on  the  signal  pole. 

Instantly  the  members  of  the  militia  dropped  their 
scythes,  seized  their  muskets,  and  hurried  to  quarters. 
"  There  were  no  feathers  in  their  caps,  no  gilt  buttons 
on  their  home-spun  coats,  nor  flashing  bayonets  on  their 
old  fowling  pieces,"  the  pastor  of  Springfield  church 
said  in  1880,  on  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the 
skirmish  that  followed,  "  but  there  was  in  their  hearts 
the  resolute  purpose  to  defend  their  homes  and  their 
liberty  at  the  price  of  their  lives." 

The  sturdy  farmers  joined  forces  with  the  regular 
soldiers.  For  a  time  the  battle  was  fierce.  The  enemy 
were  soon  compelled  to  retreat,  but  not  before  they  ha^l 
burned  the  village,  including  the  church.  Chaplain 
James  Caldwell  was  in  the  hottest  of  the  fight.  "  See 
ing  the  fire  of  one  of  the  companies  slacking  for  want 
of  wadding,  he  galloped  to  the  Presbyterian  meeting 
house  nearby,  and  rushing  in,  ran  from  pew  to  pew, 
filling  his  arms  with  hymn  books,"  wrote  Headley,  in 
"  Chaplains  and  Clergy  of  the  Revolution."  "  Hasten 
ing  back  with  them  into  the  battle,  he  scattered  them 


140        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

about  in  every  direction,  saying  as  He  pitched  one  here 
and  another  there,  '  Now  put  Watts  into  them,  boys/ 
With  a  laugh  and  a  cheer  they  pulled  out  the  leaves,  and 
ramming  home  the  charge  did  give  the  British  Watts 
with  a  will." 

The  story  has  been  attractively  told  by  Bret  Harte: 

".   .   .  Stay  one  moment;  you've  heard 
Of  Caldwell,  the  parson,  who  once  preached  the  "Word 
Down  at  Springfield?    What,  no?     Come — that's  bad; 

why,  he  had 

All  the  Jerseys  aflame !     And  they  gave  him  the  name 
Of  the  '  rebel  high  priest. '    He  stuck  in  their  gorge, 
For  he  loved  the  Lord  God — and  he  hated  King  George! 

"He  had  cause,  you  might  say!    When  the  Hessians  that 

day 

Marched  up  with  Knyphausen,  they  stopped  on  their  way 
At  the  'farm,'  where  his  wife,  with  a  child  in  her  arms, 
Sat  alone  in  the  house.     How  it  happened  none  knew 
But  God — and  that  one  of  the  hireling  crew 
Who  fired  the  shot!     Enough! — there  she  lay, 
And  Caldwell,  the  chaplain,  her  husband,  away! 

"Did  he  preach — did  he  pray?    Think  of  him  as  you  stand 
By  the  old  church  to-day — think  of  him  and  his  band 
Of  military  ploughboys !     See  the  smoke  and  the  heat 
Of  that  reckless  advance,  of  that  straggling  retreat ! 
Keep  the  ghost  of  that  wife,  foully  slain,  in  your  view — 
And  what  could  you,  what  should  you,  what  would  you  do  ? 

"Why,  just  what  he  did !     They  were  left  in  the  lurch 
For  the  want  of  more  wadding.     He  ran  to  the  church, 
Broke  down  the  door,  stripped  the  pews,  and  dashed  out 

in  the  road 
With  his  arms  full  of  hymn-books,  and  threw  down  his 

load 


ACROSS  THE  JERSEYS  WITH  PATRIOTS      141 

At  their  feet !     Then  above  all  the  shouting  and  shots 
Bang  his  voice,  'Put  Watts  into   'em!    Boys,  give   'em 
Watts/ 

"And  they  did.     That  is  all.     Grasses  spring,  flowers  blow 
Pretty  much  as  they  did  ninety-three  years  ago. 
You  may  dig  anywhere  and  you  11  turn  up  a  ball — 
But  not  always  a  hero  like  this — and  that's  all." 

The  battle  of  Springfield  is  not  named  among  the 
important  battles  of  the  Revolution,  but  it  had  a  special 
meaning  to  the  people  of  all  that  region,  for  it  taught 
them  that  the  enemy,  who  had  been  harassing  them  for 
months,  was  not  invulnerable.  From  that  day  they  took 
fresh  courage,  and  their  courage  increased  when  they 
realized  that  the  British  would  not  come  again  to 
trouble  them. 

After  the  burning  of  the  Springfield  church,  the 
pastor,  Rev.  Jacob  Vanarsdal,  gathered  his  people  in 
the  barn  of  the  parsonage.  Later  the  building  was 
ceiled  and  galleries  were  built. 

For  ten  years  the  barn  was  the  home  of  the  congre 
gation,  but  in  1791  the  building  was  erected  which  is 
in  use  to-day. 


FOUR:   RAMBLES  ABOUT  THE  CITY  OF 
BROTHERLY  LOVE 


In  that  delightful  land  which  is  washed  by  the  Delaware's  waters, 

Guarding  in  sylvan  shades  the  name  of  Penn  the  apostle, 

Stands  on  the  banks  of  its  beautiful  stream  the  city  he  founded. 

There  all  the  air  is  balm,  and  thetpeach  is  the  emblem  of  beauty, 

And  the  streets  still  re-echo  the  names  of  the  trees  of  the  forest, 

As  if  they  fain  would  appease  the  Dryads  whose  haunts  they  molested. 

There  from  the  troubled  sea  had  Evangeline  landed,  an  exile, 

Finding  among  the  children  of  Penn  a  home  and  a  country. 

There  old  Rene  Leblanc  had  died;  and  when  he  departed, 

Saw  at  his  side  only  one  of  all  his  hundred  descendants. 

Something  at  least  there  ivas  in  the  friendly  streets  of  the  city, 

Something  that  spake  to  her  heart,  and  made  her  no  longer  a  stranger; 

And  her  ear  ivas  pleased  with  the  Thee  and  Thou  of  the  Quakers, 

For  it  recalled  the  past,  the  old  Acadian  country, 

Where  all  men  were  equal,  and  all  were  brothers  and  sisters. 

HENRY  WADSWOBTH  LONGFELLOW. 


FOUR:  RAMBLES  ABOUT  THE  CITY  OF 
BROTHERLY  LOVE 

XXXI 

THE  LETITIA  PENN  HOUSE,  PHILADELPHIA 
WILLIAM  PENN'S  FIRST  AMERICAN  HOME 

When  William  Penn,  English  Quaker,  met  Guli 
Springett,  he  fell  in  love  with  her  at  once.  In  1672 
they  were  married. 

Ten  years  later  when,  as  Proprietor  of  Pennsylvania, 
Penn  was  about  to  sail  in  the  Welcome  for  America,  he 
wrote  a  letter  of  which  the  following  is  a  portion : 

"  My  dear  wife  and  children,  my  love,  which  neither 
sea,  nor  land,  nor  death  itself,  can  extinguish  or  lessen 
toward  you,  most  tenderly  visits  you  with  eternal  em 
braces  and  will  abide  with  you  for  ever.  .  .  .  My  dear 
wife,  remember  thou  wast  the  love  of  my  youth  and 
the  joy  of  my  life,  the  most  beloved  as  well  as  the  most 
worthy  of  all  my  earthly  comfort,  and  the  reason  of 
that  love  were  more  thy  inward  than  thy  outward  excel 
lencies,  which  were  yet  many.  God  knows,  and  thou 
knowest  it,  that  it  was  a  match  of  Providence's  making, 
and  God's  image  in  us  both  was  the  first  thing  and  the 
most  amiable  and  engaging  ornament  in  our  eyes.  Now 
I  am  to  leave  thee,  and  that  without  knowing  whether 
I  shall  ever  see  thee  more  in  this  world." 

Penn  landed  at  New  Castle,  Delaware,  in  October, 
1682.  He  had  already  sent  forward  the  plot  of  his  new 

145 


146        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

country  village;  his  cousin,  Lieutenant  Governor  Mark- 
ham,  had  come  to  America  in  1681,  bringing  with  him 
instructions  for  the  beginning  of  the  settlement.  On 
this  plot  there  was  evidence  of  his  thought  for  his  wife 
and  his  daughter  Letitia;  two  lots  were  set  apart  for 
the  family,  on  one  of  which  he  planned  to  build,  while 
the  other  he  designed  for  Letitia. 

When  he  reached  America,  he  found  that,  by  some 
mistake,  Letitia's  lot  had  been  given  to  the  Friends  for 
a  meeting  house.  He  was  vexed,  but  nothing  could  be 
done.  So  he  decided  that  the  lot  reserved  for  his  own 
use  should  be  made  over  to  her.  He  did  not  carry  out 
his  purpose  for  some  time,  however. 

For  a  time  Penn  remained  at  Upland  (now  Chester), 
but  in  1684,  he  went  to  Philadelphia  to  oversee  the  erec 
tion  of  the  houses  for  the  settlers.  His  own  house  he 
built  on  a  large  plot  facing  the  Delaware  River  and 
south  of  what  is  now  Market  Street.  The  house  was 
of  brick,  which  was  probably  made  nearby,  though 
many  of  the  interior  fittings  had  been  brought  from 
England  in  the  John  and  Sarah  in  1681.  It  was  the 
first  brick  house  in  the  new  settlement,  the  first  house 
which  had  a  cellar,  and  was  built  in  accordance  with 
the  request  the  Proprietor  had  made : 

"  Let  every  house  be  placed,  if  the  person  pleases,  in 
the  middle  of  the  plat,  as  to  breadth  way  of  it,  that  so 
there  may  be  ground  on  each  side  for  garden  or  orchard, 
or  fields,  that  it  may  be  a  green  country  town,  which 
will  never  be  burnt  and  always  wholesome.'7 

For  a  few  months  the  Quaker  kept  bachelor's  hall  in 
his  new  house.  Then  he  went  to  England,  intending  to 
return  before  long.  Before  his  departure  he  arranged 


LKTITIA  PENN  HOUSE,   PHILADELPHIA 


See  page  145 


• 


Photo  by  Ph.  R.  Wallace 


ST.   PETER  S  PROTESTANT  EPISCOPAL  CHURCH,   PHILADELPHIA 


See  page  153 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         147 

that  the  house  should  be  used  in  the  public  service. 
Probably  it  was  the  gathering  place  for  the  Provincial 
Council  for  many  years.  Thus  it  was  the  first  state 
house  of  Pennsylvania. 

During  the  fourteen  years'  stay  in  England  many  mis 
fortunes  came  to  Penn.  He  was  accused  of  treason,  and 
his  title  to  the  American  lands  was  taken  away  from 
him.  Later  he  was  acquitted,  and  his  lands  were 
returned. 

In  1692  Guli  Penn  died,  and  in  1696  Penn  married 
Hannah  Callowhill.  In  1699,  when  he  returned  to 
America,  he  brought  with  him  his  wife  and  Letitia, 
who  was  then  about  twenty-five  years  old. 

Evidently  the  old  house  was  not  good  enough  for  the 
ladies  of  the  family.  At  any  rate  they  occupied  for  a 
time  the  "  slate-roof  house,"  one  of  the  most  preten 
tious  buildings  in  the  Colony.  When  the  manor,  Penns- 
bury,  twenty  miles  up  the  Delaware,  was  completed,  the 
family  was  taken  there.  Great  style  was  maintained  at 
the  country  estate  in  the  woods.  The  house  had  cost 
£5,000,  and  was  "  the  most  imposing  house  between  the 
Hudson  and  Potomac  rivers." 

The  Philadelphia  house  was  transferred  to  Letitia 
on  "  the  29th  of  the  1st  month  1701."  At  once  extrava 
gant  Letitia  tried  to  dispose  of  it.  She  succeeded  in 
selling  a  portion  of  the  generous  lot,  but  it  was  some 
years  before  she  was  able  to  sell  the  whole. 

In  the  meantime  the  Proprietor  felt  that  he  must 
return  to  England  because  of  the  threat  of  Parliament 
to  change  the  government  of  the  American  Colonies. 
Mrs.  Penn  and  Letitia,  who  did  not  like  America, 
pleaded  to  go  with  him.  He  thought  he  would  be  re 
turning  soon,  and  he  urged  them  to  remain.  They  in- 


148        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

sisted.  In  a  letter  to  James  Logan  he  wrote :  "  I  can 
not  prevail  on  my  wife  to  stay,  and  still  less  with  Tish. 
I  know  not  what  to  do."  Later  he  wrote :  "  The  going 
of  my  wife  and  Tish  will  add  greatly  to  the  expense.  .  .  . 
But  they  will  not  be  denied." 

In  1702  Letitia  married  William  Aubrey,  who  had  all 
of  Penn's  keenness  and  none  of  his  genial  qualities. 
Almost  from  the  day  of  the  marriage  both  husband  and 
wife  pestered  Penn  for  money.  Aubrey  insisted  on  a 
prompt  payment  of  his  wife's  marriage  portion.  His 
father-in-law  was  already  beginning  to  feel  the  grip  of 
financial  embarrassment  that  later  brought  him  to  the 
verge  of  bankruptcy,  but,  on  this  occasion  as  well  as 
later,  lie  felt  compelled  to  yield  to  the  insistent  demands 
of  the  grasping  Aubrey. 

The  only  members  of  the  Penn  family  who  ever  re 
turned  to  America  were  the  children  of  the  second  wife, 
to  whom  most  of  the  property  descended. 

The  Letitia  Penn  House,  as  it  came  to  be  known,  fell 
on  evil  days.  It  was  an  eating  house  in  1800,  and  in 
1824  it  was  the  Rising  Sun  Inn.  Later  it  was  called 
the  Woolpack  Hotel. 

In  1882  funds  were  raised  by  public  subscription,  and 
the  venerable  house  was  taken  down  and  rebuilt  in 
Fairmount  Park.  Visitors  who  enter  the  city  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Railroad  from  New  York  City  may  easily 
see  it  from  a  right-hand  car  window,  for  it  is  the  only 
house  in  the  corner  of  the  park  on  the  west  side  of  the 
river. 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         149 

XXXII 

CARPENTERS'  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA 
CALLED  BY  BENSON  J.  LOSSING  "  THE  TEMPLE  OF  FREEDOM  " 

Philadelphia  was  but  forty-two  years  old  when  a 
number  of  builders  in  the  growing  town  decided  to 
have  a  guild  like  the  journeymen's  guilds  of  London. 
Accordingly  they  formed,  in  1724,  "  The  Carpenters' 
Company  of  the  City  and  County  of  Philadelphia," 
whose  object  should  be  "  to  obtain  instruction  in  the 
science  of  architecture;  to  assist  such  of  the  members, 
or  the  widows  and  children  of  members,  as  should  be 
by  accident  in  need  of  support,"  as  well  as  "  the  adop 
tion  of  such  a  system  of  measurements  and  prices  that 
every  one  concerned  in  a  building  may  have  the  value 
of  his  money,  and  every  workman  the  worth  of  his 
labor." 

At  first  the  meetings  were  held  here  and  there,  prob 
ably  in  taverns.  In  1768  the  Company  decided  to  build 
a  home.  A  lot  was  secured  on  Chestnut  Street,  between 
Third  and  Fourth  streets,  for  which  an  annual  ground 
rent  of  "  176  Spanish  milled  pieces  of  eight "  was  to  be 
paid.  The  sum  of  three  hundred  pounds  necessary  to 
begin  operations  was  subscribed  in  about  a  week. 

The  Company's  annual  meeting  of  January  21,  1771, 
was  held  within  the  walls,  though  the  building  was  not 
entirely  completed  until  1792. 

Three  years  after  the  opening  of  the  hall  came  the 
first  event  that  linked  the  building  with  the  history  of 
America.  A  general  meeting  of  the  people  of  Philadel- 


150        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

phia  was  held  here  to  protest  against  the  failure  of 
Governor  Penn  to  convene  the  Assembly  of  the  Colony. 
A  committee  of  three  was  appointed  to  wait  on  the 
Speaker  and  ask  him  for  "  a  positive  answer  as  to 
whether  he  would  call  the  Assembly  together  or  not." 

The  Assembly  was  then  called  to  meet  on  the  "  18th 
day  of  the  6th  month."  Three  days  before  the  time 
fixed,  another  meeting  was  held  in  Carpenters'  Hall  to 
consider  what  measures  for  the  welfare  of  the  Colony 
should  be  proposed  to  the  Assembly.  At  this  meeting 
the  necessity  of  holding  "  a  general  Congress  of  dele 
gates  from  all  the  Colonies  "  was  voiced.  Later  the 
Assembly  approved  of  the  idea  of  such  a  conference,  and 
a  call  was  issued. 

On  September  5,  1774,  the  delegates  from  eleven 
provinces  met  in  the  City  Tavern.  Learning  that  the 
Carpenters'  Company  had  offered  the  hall  for  the  use 
of  the  Continental  Congress,  the  delegates  voted  to  in 
spect  the  accommodations.  John  Adams,  one  of  their 
number,  said  after  the  visit :  "  They  took  a  view  of  the 
room  and  of  the  chamber,  where  there  is  an  excellent 
library.  There  is  also  a  long  entry,  where  gentlemen 
may  walk,  and  also  a  convenient  chamber  opposite  to 
the  library.  The  general  cry  was  that  this  was  a  good 
room." 

When  this  First  Continental  Congress  met,  it  was 
decided  that  the  session  of  the  second  day  should  be 
opened  with  prayer.  Rev.  Jacob  Duche'  of  Christ 
Church  and  St.  Peter's  was  asked  to  be  present  and 
conduct  an  opening  service.  This  historic  account  of 
the  service  was  written  by  John  Adams : 

u  Next  morning  he  appeared  with  his  clerk  and  hav 
ing  on  his  pontificals,  and  read  several  prayers  in  the 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         151 

established  form,  and  then  read  the  Psalter  for  the 
seventh  day  of  September,  which  was  the  thirty-fifth 
Psalm.  You  must  remember  that  this  was  the  next 
morning  after  we  had  heard  of  the  horrible  cannonade 
of  Boston  (the  account  proved  to  be  an  error).  It 
seemed  as  if  heaven  had  ordered  that  Psalm  to  be  read 
on  that  morning.  After  this,  Mr.  Duche,  unexpectedly 
to  everybody,  struck  out  into  extemporary  prayer,  which 
filled  the  bosom  of  every  man  present.  I  must  confess, 
I  never  heard  a  better  prayer,  or  one  so  well  pro 
nounced.'7 

In  part,  this  prayer  was  as  follows  : 

"  Be  thou  present,  O  God  of  wisdom !  And  direct  the 
councils  of  this  honorable  assembly,  enable  them  to 
settle  things  on  the  best  and  surest  foundation,  that  the 
scene  of  blood  may  be  speedily  closed,  that  order,  har 
mony,  and  peace  may  be  effectually  restored,  and  truth 
and  justice,  religion  and  piety,  prevail  and  flourish 
amongst  Thy  people." 

On  October  26  the  Congress  was  dissolved.  The  sec 
ond  Congress  was  called  to  meet  on  May  10,  1775,  at 
the  State  House,  later  known  as  Independence  Hall. 

When  the  British  took  possession  of  the  city  in  1777, 
a  portion  of  the  army  was  quartered  in  the  building. 
Officers  and  men  alike  borrowed  books  from  the  Library 
Company  of  Philadelphia,  wliich  had  quarters  here,  in 
variably  making  deposits  and  paying  for  the  use  of 
volumes  taken  in  strict  accordance  with  the  rules. 

In  1778  the  United  States  Commissary  of  Military 
Stores  began  to  occupy  the  lower  story  and  cellar  of  the 
building.  From  1791  to  1821  various  public  organiza 
tions  sought  quarters  here,  including  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  the  Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  the  United 
States  Land  Office,  and  the  United  States  Custom  House. 


152        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

The  Carpenters'  Company  therefore,  in  1791,  erected  a 
second  building  on  this  lot,  which  they  occupied  until 
1857. 

When  Benson  J.  Lossing  visited  the  historic  hall,  on 
November  27, 1848,  he  wrote  of  his  great  disappointment 
because  the  banner  of  an  auctioneer  was  on  the  front  of 
the  building.  He  said  : 

"  I  tried  hard  to  perceive  the  apparition  .  .  .  to  be 
a  classic  frieze,  with  rich  historic  trigliphs,  but  it  would 
not  do.  ...  What  a  desecration !  Covering  the  facade 
of  the  very  Temple  of  Freedom  with  the  placards  of 
grovelling  Mammon !  If  sensibility  is  shocked  with  this 
outward  pollution,  it  is  overwhelmed  with  indignant 
shame  on  entering  the  hall  where  that  august  Assembly 
of  men — the  godfathers  of  our  Republic — convened  to 
stand  as  sponsors  at  the  baptism  of  infant  American 
liberty — to  find  it  filled  with  every  species  of  merchan 
dise,  and  the  walls  which  once  echoed  the  eloquent  words 
of  Henry,  Lee,  and  the  Adamses,  reverberating  with  the 
clatter  of  the  auctioneer's  voice  and  hammer.  Is  there 
not  patriotism  strong  enough  in  Philadelphia  to  enter 
the  temple,  and  '  cast  out  all  them  that  buy  and  sell, 
and  overthrow  the  tables  of  the  money-changers?  '  " 

At  length  the  Carpenters'  Company  decided  that  the 
time  had  come  to  do  what  the  historian  pleaded  for.  In 
1857  they  returned  to  the  building,  and  since  then  they 
have  held  their  meetings  within  the  walls  consecrated 
by  the  heroes  of  Revolutionary  days.  The  rooms  were 
restored  to  their  original  condition,  and  relics  and  me 
mentoes  of  early  days  were  put  in  place.  The  Hall  has 
ever  since  been  open  to  visitors  "  who  may  wish  to  visit 
the  spot  where  Henry,  Hancock,  and  Adams  inspired  the 
delegates  of  the  Colonies  with  nerve  and  the  sinew  for 
the  toils  of  war." 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         153 

XXXIII 
ST.  PETER'S  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA 

WHOSE  BUILDING  IS  PRACTICALLY  UNCHANGED  AFTER 
MORE  THAN  ONE  HUNDRED  AND  FIFTY  YEARS 

There  were  but  fifteen  thousand  people  in  Philadel 
phia  when,  on  March  19,  1753,  the  suggestion  was  made 
to  the  vestry  of  Christ  Church  that  a  new  church  or 
Chapel  of  Ease  of  Christ  Church  be  built  for  the  accom 
modation  of  the  people  in  the  southern  part  of  the  city. 
Thomas  and  Richard  Penn  gave  a  site  for  the  building 
of  the  new  church,  and  on  September  21,  1758,  the 
corner  stone  was  laid.  In  1761  the  church  was  opened, 
though  it  was  not  completed  until  March,  1763.  To  the 
new  organization  was  given  the  name  St.  Peter's,  and  it 
was  ordered  by  the  vestry  of  Christ  Church,  "  that  the 
said  church  ...  in  every  respect  whatever  shall  be  upon 
an  equal  footing  with  Christ  Church,  and  be  under  the 
same  government  with  it." 

At  the  same  time,  in  view  of  the  gift  of  the  site,  it  was 
ordered  that  "  the  first  and  best  pew  in  the  said  Church 
shall  be  set  apart  forever  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
Honorable  Proprietary's  family." 

When  the  building  was  completed  the  building  com 
mittee  reported  that  the  cost  was  £4,765,  19  s.  6J  d. 
Added  to  this  report  were  statements  that  sound  quite 
modern.  "  The  sudden  rise  in  the  prices  of  materials 
and  labor,"  and  "  the  inability  of  some  subscribers  to 
meet  their  engagements,"  had  added  to  the  burdens  of 
the  committee. 


154        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

From  the  beginning  prayers  were  read  in  the  church 
for  the  king  and  all  the  royal  family,  but  on  July  4, 
1776,  the  vestry  ordered  that  patriotic  prayers  be  sub 
stituted.  While  the  British  were  in  Philadelphia  the 
prayers  for  the  king  were  renewed  by  order  of  Dr. 
Duche',  rector  of  Christ  Church  and  St.  Peter's.  The 
official  history  of  St.  Peter's  refers  to  Dr.  Duche',  who 
ordered  this,  in  the  following  sentences : 

"  From  an  advocate  of  the  Colonies,  he  became  an  ad 
vocate  of  the  King,  and  on  the  Sunday  following  the 
occupation  of  Philadelphia  by  the  British,  he  restored 
the  prayers  for  the  King  to  the  Liturgy.  This  com 
promise  with  conditions  availed  him  nothing,  and  he 
was  arrested  for  serving  as  chaplain  to  Congress  after 
the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The 
influence  of  his  loyalist  friends  secured  his  speedy 
release.  .  .  .  Not  long  afterward  he  went  to  England, 
where  he  remained  practically  an  exile  for  twelve  years, 
returning  to  Philadelphia  several  years  before  his  death, 
when,  it  is  said,  no  truer  American  could  have  been 
found  in  the  City.  He  ...  was  buried  in  St.  Peter's 
Churchyard." 

During  the  occupation  of  the  church  by  British 
troops  in  1777  the  pews  were  burned  for  fuel,  but  the 
building  was  never  closed  for  lack  of  fuel  or  for  any 
other  reason,  until  the  late  winter  of  1917-18,  when 
coal  could  not  be  secured. 

The  wooden  fence  that  surrounded  the  property  origi 
nally  was  burned  by  the  British  for  fuel,  and  the  brick 
wall  that  is  now  in  place  was  built  in  1784. 

Washington  frequently  occupied  a  pew  in  St.  Peter's, 
and  many  other  men  who  were  prominent  in  the  early 
history  of  the  country  worshipped  here.  The  building 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         155 

is  practically  as  it  was  when  they  lived.  "  It  is  the  same 
church  to  which  the  colonists  in  their  knee-breeches  and 
rich  coats  came  to  attend  the  first  service  in  1761,"  a 
member  of  the  vestry  said  in  1891.  "  The  pulpit,  read 
ing  desk,  and  chancel  rails  were  built  in  1764,  and  the 
present  organ  loft  was  put  up  over  the  chancel  in  1789. 
In  all  other  respects  the  plain,  austere  interior  of  this 
old  church  .  .  .  remains  unchanged,  the  only  relic  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  one  of  the  very  few  in  the  country  at 
large,  of  the  church  in  colonial  days.  Bishop  De  Lan- 
cey,  in  his  centennial  sermon,  preached  September  4, 
1861,  said :  <  We  enter  by  the  same  doors — -we  tread  the 
same  aisles — we  kneel  where  they  knelt — we  sit  where 
they  sat ;  the  voice  of  prayer,  instruction,  and  praise  as 
cends  from  the  same  desk  from  which  it  reached  their 
ears,  in  the  privacy  and  seclusion  of  the  same  high, 
strait  unostentatious  pews.' " 

In  the  crowded  churchyard  are  the  graves  of  many 
colonial  worthies  as  well  as  many  leaders  in  the  early 
history  of  America.  Stephen  Decatur  is  buried  here, 
and  Charles  Wilson  Peale,  who  painted  a  famous  por 
trait  of  Washington. 

The  Pennsylvania  Evening  Post  of  January  18,  1777, 
told  of  the  burial  of  one  of  the  patriots  whose  bodies 
were  laid  here: 

"  Yesterday  the  remains  of  Captain  William  Shippen, 
who  was  killed  at  Princeton  the  third  instant,  gloriously 
fighting  for  the  liberty  of  his  country,  were  interred  in 
St.  Peter's  Churchyard.  His  funeral  was  attended  by 
the  Council  of  Safety,  the  members  of  Assembly,  officers 
of  the  army,  a  troop  of  Virginia  light  horse,  and  a  great 
number  of  inhabitants.  This  brave  and  unfortunate 
man  was  in  his  twenty-seventh  year,  and  has  left  a 


156        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

widow  and  three  children  to  lament  the  death  of  an 
affectionate  husband  and  a  tender  parent,  his  servants 
a  kind  master,  and  his  neighbors  a  sincere  and  obliging 
friend." 

Captain  Shippen,  before  joining  Washington's  army, 
was  captain  of  the  privateer  Hancock,  which,  between 
July  1  and  November  1,  1776,  sent  to  American  ports 
ten  prizes  captured  at  sea. 


XXXIV 

CLIVEDEN,  GERMANTOWN,  PHILADELPHIA 

ON  THE  FIELD  OF  THE  BATTLE  OF  GERMANTOWN 

In  the  days  before  the  Revolution  there  were  many 
residents  of  Philadelphia  who  had,  in  addition  to  a 
sumptuous  town  house,  a  country  house,  to  which  they 
could  resort  in  the  summer  or  at  other  times  when  they 
wished  relief  from  the  cares  of  daily  life.  Germantown, 
the  straggling  village  five  miles  from  the  town  of  Will 
iam  Penn,  was  one  of  the  popular  places  for  such  estab 
lishments. 

Samuel  Chew's  town  house  was  at  Front  and  Dock 
streets  when  he  built  Cliveden  at  Germantown  in  1761. 
At  that  time  he  was  Attorney-General  of  Pennsylvania, 
though  in  1774  he  became  Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Pennsylvania. 

Both  in  Philadelphia  and  in  Germantown  he  main 
tained  the  hospitable  traditions  he  had  learned  at  Maid- 
stone,  near  Annapolis,  where  he  was  born,  in  1722,  of  a 


THE  CITY  OF  BEOTHERLY  LOVE         157 

family  whose  first  American  ancestor,  John  Chew,  came 
to  Virginia  a  century  earlier. 

During  the  days  of  the  Continental  Congress  Judge 
Chew  seemed  to  sympathize  with  the  colonists  in  their 
protests  against  the  aggression  of  Great  Britain,  but 
when  independence  was  proposed,  he  let  it  be  known  that 
he  was  unwilling  to  act  with  the  patriots.  Accordingly 
he  was  arrested  by  order  of  Congress,  together  with  John 
Penn,  and  when  he  refused  to  sign  a  parole,  he  was 
banished  from  the  State. 

During  his  absence  the  battle  of  Germantown  was 
fought.  On  October  3,  1777,  the  British  forces  were 
disposed  on  nearly  all  sides  of  the  Chew  mansion. 
Washington  planned  to  attack  these  scattered  forces  by 
four  columns,  which  were  to  advance  from  as  many  di 
rections.  General  Wayne's  column  successfully  opened 
the  attack  at  daybreak  October  4,  driving  before  him  the 
enemy  encountered  at  Mount  Airy.  Colonel  Musgrave 
checked  the  retreat  of  the  soldiers  at  Cliveden.  With 
six  companies  he  took  possession  of  the  mansion,  pre 
pared  to  defend  themselves  behind  hastily  barricaded 
doors  and  windows.  Wayne  and  the  leaders  who  were 
with  him  pushed  on  past  the  house,  continuing  the  pur 
suit  of  that  portion  of  the  enemy  which  had  continued 
its  retreat;  he  did  not  know  that  he  was  leaving  an 
enemy  in  his  rear.  When  Washington  came  to  Cliveden, 
he  was  surprised  by  the  fire  of  the  entrenched  enemy. 
After  a  hasty  conference  with  others,  it  was  decided  not 
to  pass  on,  leaving  a  fortress  behind.  Cannon  were 
planted  so  as  to  command  the  door,  but  they  were  fired 
without  much  effect. 

The  next  attempt  was  made  by  a  young  Frenchman 
who  asked  others  to  carry  hay  from  the  barn  and  set 


158        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

fire  to  the  front  door.  Thinking  they  were  doing  as  he 
asked,  he  forced  open  a  window  and  climbed  on  the 
sill.  From  this  position  he  was  driven  back,  and  he 
found  that  he  had  not  been  supported  by  those  on  whom 
he  had  counted. 

In  the  meantime  the  artillery  fire  continued,  but  with 
little  effect.  General  Wilkinson,  who  was  present, 
afterward  wrote: 

"The  doors  and  shutters  of  the  lower  windows  of 
the  mansion  were  shut  and  fastened,  the  fire  of  the 
enemy  being  delivered  from  the  iron  gratings  of  the 
cellars  and  the  windows  above,  and  it  was  closely  beset 
on  all  sides  with  small-arms  and  artillery,  as  is  mani 
fest  from  the  multiplicity  of  traces  still  visible  from 
musket-ball  and  grape-shot  on  the  interior  walls  and 
ceilings  which  appear  to  have  entered  through  the  doors 
and  windows  in  every  direction;  marks  of  cannon-ball 
are  also  visible,  in  several  places  on  the  exterior  of  the 
wall  and  through  the  roof,  though  one  ball  only  appears 
to  have  penetrated  below  the  roof,  and  that  by  a  window 
in  the  passage  of  the  second  story.  The  artillery  seem 
to  have  made  no  impression  on  the  walls  of  the  house, 
a  few  slight  indentures  only  being  observable,  except 
from  one  stroke  in  the  rear,  which  started  the  wall." 

In  a  few  minutes  Washington,  realizing  that  precious 
time  was  being  lost  in  the  attack  on  the  thick  walls  of 
the  house,  ordered  a  regiment  to  remain  behind  to  watch 
Cliveden,  while  his  main  force  hastened  on. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  this  brief  delay  was  respon 
sible  for  the  defeat  at  Germantown.  Wilkinson,  on  the 
contrary,  insists  that  this  delay  saved  Washington's 
army  from  annihilation,  since  he  would  otherwise  have 
hurried  on  in  the  thick  fog  until  he  was  in  contact  with 
the  main  body  of  the  British  army.  The  result,  he 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         159 

thinks,  would  have  been  a  far  greater  disaster  than 
actually  overtook  the  American  arms  that  day. 

The  damage  done  to  the  house  was  so  great  that  five 
carpenters  were  busy  for  months  making  repairs.  Evi 
dently  Judge  Chew  was  not  satisfied  with  the  result, 
for  in  1779  he  sold  Cliveden  for  $9,000,  only  to  buy  it 
back  again  in  1787  for  |25,000. 

The  property  descended  to  Benjamin  Chew,  Jr., 
on  the  death  of  his  father.  During  his  occupancy  of 
Cliveden  Lafayette  was  a  guest  there  in  1825. 


XXXV 

OLD  PINE  STREET  CHURCH,  PHILADELPHIA 

WHOSE  PASTOR  INSPIRED  JOHN  ADAMS  TO  PLEAD  FOR 
INDEPENDENCE 

There  were  four  thousand,  seven  hundred  and  sev 
enty-four  houses  in  Philadelphia  in  1767  when  the  Pine 
Street  Presbyterian  Church,  the  third  church  of  this 
denomination  in  the  city,  was  built.  The  subscription 
paper,  still  in  existence,  shows  that  £1,078  "  in  money 
or  otherwise "  was  subscribed  for  the  purpose.  The 
sum  needed  to  complete  the  building  was  raised  by  a 
lottery,  which  yielded  £2,500.  In  the  proceeds  of  the 
lottery  the  Market  Street  Church  and  the  Second 
Church  shared,  £1,035  going  to  the  Pine  Street  building. 

The  original  building  was  of  but  one  story,  with 
gable  ends.  When  alterations  were  made  in  1837  the 
top  of  the  church  was  raised  bodily,  while  a  larger  roof 
was  built  over  the  old  roof.  The  visitor  who  climbs  to 


160        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

the  loft  is  able  to  see  the  old  walls  and  windows.  The 
floor  was  raised  one  step  above  the  street  level,  and 
was  paved  with  brick. 

Rev.  George  Duffield,  D.D.,  who  was  pastor  from  1772 
to  1790,  was  a  prominent  figure  during  the  Revolution. 
He  was  chaplain  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  of  the 
Pennsylvania  militia  during  the  period  of  the  war,  and 
he  delivered  fiery  messages  that  stirred  patriots  to  ac 
tion.  John  Adams,  who  was  a  member  of  the  church, 
called  him  a  man  of  genius  and  eloquence.  On  May  17, 
1776,  after  listening  to  a  sermon  in  which  Dr.  Duffield 
likened  the  conduct  of  George  III  to  the  Americans  to 
that  of  Pharaoh  to  the  Israelites,  and  concluded  that 
God  intended  the  liberation  of  the  Americans,  as  He 
had  intended  that  of  the  Israelites,  he  wrote  to  his  wife : 

"  Is  it  not  a  saying  of  Moses,  Who  am  I  that  I  should 
go  in  and  out  before  this  great  people?  When  I  con 
sider  the  great  events  which  are  passed,  and  those 
greater  which  are  rapidly  advancing,  and  that  I  may 
have  been  instrumental  in  touching  some  springs,  and 
turning  some  small  wheels,  which  have  had  and  will 
have  such  effects,  I  feel  an  awe  upon  my  mind,  which 
is  not  easily  described.  Great  Britain  has  at  last  driven 
America  to  the  last  step,  complete  separation  from 
her ;  a  total,  absolute  independence.  ..." 

Headley,  in  "  Chaplains  and  Clergy  of  the  Revolu 
tion,"  says: 

"  The  patriots  of  the  first  Congress  flocked  to  his 
church,  and  John  Adams  and  his  compeers  were  often 
his  hearers.  ...  In  a  discourse  delivered  before  sev 
eral  companies  of  the  Pennsylvania  militia  and  mem 
bers  of  Congress,  four  months  before  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  he  took  bold  and  decided  ground  in 


CLIVEDEN,  PHILADELPHIA 


Photo  by  Ph.B.  Wallace 
See  page  150 


THIRD   (OLD  PINE  STREET)   PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 
PHILADELPHIA 


Photo  by  Ph.B.  Wallace 
See  page  159 


f*i 


DAVID  RITTENHOUSE'S  HOUSE,  XORRITO.V  PKNNA. 


I'h.B.  Wallace 
Sec  page  170 


DAWESFIELD,   NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,   PENNA. 


tu  hi/   H.  (\   Howland,  Philadelphia 
See  page  178 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         161 

favor  of  that  step,  and  pleaded  his  cause  with  sublime 
eloquence,  which  afterwards  made  him  so  obnoxious  to 
the  British  that  they  placed  a  reward  of  fifty  pounds 
for  his  capture." 

Later  on  in  the  same  sermon  he  prophesied : 

"  Whilst  sun  and  moon  endure,  America  shall  remain 
a  city  of  refuge  for  the  whole  earth,  until  she  herself 
shall  play  the  tyrant,  forget  her  destiny,  disgrace  her 
freedom,  and  provoke  her  God." 

As  chaplain  of  the  Pennsylvania  militia,  Dr.  Duffleld 
was  frequently  in  camp,  where  "  his  visits  were  always 
welcome,  for  the  soldiers  loved  the  eloquent,  earnest, 
fearless  patriot." 

Headley  gives  this  incident  of  the  courageous  chap 
lain's  work: 

"  When  the  enemy  occupied  Staten  Island,  and  the 
American  forces  were  across  the  river  on  the  Jersey 
shore,  he  repaired  to  camp  to  spend  the  Sabbath.  As 
sembling  a  portion  of  the  troops  in  an  orchard,  he 
climbed  into  the  forks  of  a  tree  and  commenced  re 
ligious  exercises.  He  gave  out  a  hymn.  .  .  .  The  Brit 
ish  on  the  island  heard  the  sound  of  the  singing,  and 
immediately  directed  some  cannon  to  play  on  the 
orchard,  from  whence  it  proceeded.  Soon  the  heavy 
shot  came  crashing  through  the  branches,  and  went 
singing  overhead,  arresting  for  a  moment  the  voices  that 
were  lifted  in  worship.  Mr.  Duffield  .  .  .  proposed 
that  they  should  adjourn  behind  an  adjacent  hillock. 
They  did  so,  and  continued  their  worship,  while  the 
iron  storm  hurled  harmlessly  overhead." 

In  spite  of  his  almost  constant  service  in  the  field, 
Dr.  Duffield  was  in  Philadelphia  among  his  people 
every  little  while.  The  church  records  show  that  he 


162        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

baptized  children  every  month  during  the  Revolution, 
except  for  the  period  of  the  British  occupation  of  Phila 
delphia,  when  the  church  was  occupied  as  a  hospital, 
and  more  than  one  hundred  Hessian  soldiers  were 
buried  in  the  churchyard. 

Another  remarkable  fact  is  that  of  the  one  hundred 
and  ten  men  who  had  signed  the  call  to  George  Duifield 
in  1771,  sixty-seven  served  in  the  army  during  the  war. 
Colonel  Thomas  Robinson,  whose  portrait  is  in  Inde 
pendence  Hall,  was  a  member  of  the  church;  Captain 
John  Steele,  who  was  field  officer  on  the  day  of  the 
surrender  of  Cornwallis,  and  Colonel  William  Linnard, 
whose  company  attempted  to  keep  the  British  from 
crossing  the  Brandywine,  were  also  members.  Many 
other  officers  and  private  soldiers  were  on  the  rolls ;  the 
stones  and  vaults  in  the  cemetery  tell  of  many  of  them. 

One  of  the  original  trustees  of  Pine  Street  was  Dr. 
William  Shippen,  Jr.,  first  Professor  of  Medicine  in 
America  and  Director  General  of  all  the  hospitals  dur 
ing  the  war.  Benjamin  Rush,  Signer  of  the  Declara 
tion,  was  an  attendant  at  the  services,  and  his  mother 
was  a  member. 


XXXVI 

INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA 

WHERE  AMERICAN  INDEPENDENCE  WAS  BORN 

William  Penn  was  a  man  of  vision.  When,  in  1682, 
Thomas  Holme  surveyed  for  him  the  site  of  Phila 
delphia,  the  Quaker  pioneer  gave  instruction  that  "  the 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         163 

Centre  Square,"  one  mile  from  the  Delaware,  be  set 
apart  for  the  public  buildings  of  the  city  and  colony. 

But  for  many  years  after  the  founding  of  the  city, 
Centre  Square  was  far  out  in  the  country.  During 
these  years  temporary  public  buildings  were  provided 
for  official  meetings,  including  the  Assembly,  but  in 
1728  steps  were  taken  to  erect  a  suitable  public  build 
ing  within  reach  of  the  people  of  the  young  city. 
Ground  was  bought  on  Chestnut  Street,  between  Fifth 
and  Sixth  streets,  and  the  State  House  was  begun  in 
1730.  The  total  cost  of  the  building  was  |16,250.  Two 
wings  were  added  in  1739  and  1740;  these  cost  some 
$12,000  more. 

Two  years  after  the  completion  of  the  main  building 
the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  passed  an  act  in  which  this 
statement  was  made: 

"  It  is  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  these  Presents, 
that  no  part  of  the  said  ground  lying  to  the  southward 
of  the  State  House,  as  it  is  now  built,  be  converted  into 
or  made  use  of  for  erecting  any  sort  of  Building  there 
upon,  but  that  the  said  ground  shall  be  enclosed  and 
remain  a  public  open  Green  and  Walks  forever." 

Eighty  years  after  the  passage  of  the  act  an  attempt 
was  made  to  divert  the  State  House  yard  to  other  pur 
poses.  In  a  curious  old  document,  dated  February  6, 
1816,  W.  Rawle  and  Peter  S.  Duponceau  made  an  argu 
ment  against  this  diversion,  showing  conclusively  that 
the  State  House  Square  had  been  "  irrevocably  devoted 
to  the  purpose  of  an  open  and  public  walk."  Thanks 
to  their  efforts  and  the  efforts  of  others  who  have  la 
bored  to  the  same  end,  the  grounds  are  to-day,  and 
must  forever  remain,  open  to  the  use  of  the  people. 


164        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

The  first  public  function  held  in  the  new  State  House 
was  a  banquet,  given  in  the  "  long  room,"  in  the  second 
story.  Of  this  Franklin's  Pennsylvania  Gazette  of  Sep 
tember  30,  1736,  said : 

"  Thursday  last  William  Allen,  Esq.,  Mayor  of  this 
city  for  the  past  year,  made  a  feast  for  his  citizens  at 
the  State  House,  to  which  all  the  strangers  in  town  of 
note  were  also  invited.  Those  who  are  judges  of  such 
things  say  that  considering  the  delicacy  of  the  viands, 
the  variety  and  excellency  of  the  wines,  the  great  num 
ber  of  guests,  and  yet  the  easiness  and  order  with  which 
the  whole  was  conducted,  it  was  the  most  grand,  the 
most  elegant  entertainment  that  has  been  made  in  these 
parts  of  America." 

The  builders  were  dilatory.  It  was  1736  before  the 
Assembly  was  able  to  hold  its  first  session  in  the  cham 
ber  provided  for  it,  and  not  until  1745  was  the  room 
completed.  Three  years  more  passed  before  the  apart 
ment  intended  for  the  Governor's  Council  was  ready 
for  its  occupants. 

In  1741  the  tower  was  built,  and  on  November  4 
Edmund  Wooley  sent  to  the  Province  of  Pennsylvania 
an  interesting  bill,  "  for  expenses  in  raising  the  Tower 
of  the  State  House  " : 

95  loaves  of  Bread £0  19  9 

61f  Ib.  Bacon,  at  7d 1  14  1 

148^  Ib.  Beef  at  3Jd 281 

Potatoes  and  Greens 0  7  1 

800  Limes  at  4s 1  12  0 

li  Barrels  of  Beer  at  18s 1  7  0 

44  Ib.  Mutton  at  3Jd 0  12  8 

37f  Ib.  Veal  at  3^d 0  11  0 

30  Ib.  Venison  at  2d 0  5  0 


THE  CITY  OF  BKOTHEELY  LOVE         165 

Turnips    0  1  6 

Pepper  and  Mustard 0  1  5 

2  Jugs  and  Candles,  Pipes  and  Tobacco ...  0  6  0 

Butter  9s.  8d.  Turkey  4s.  4  pair  Fowls  9s. .  1  2  8 

£  of  a  hundred  of  Flour 036 

Two  former  Bookings  at  getting  on  two 
Floors,  and  now  for  raising  the  Tower, 

Fire  Wood,  etc 3  0  0 

Provision  was  made  in  1750  for  the  extension  of  the 
tower  for  the  accommodation  of  a  bell,  and  on  October 
16,  1751,  the  Superintendent  of  the  State  House  sent 
a  letter  to  the  colonial  agent  in  London.  In  this  letter 
he  said: 

"  We  take  the  liberty  to  apply  ourselves  to  thee  to 
get  us  a  good  bell,  of  about  two  thousand  pounds  weight, 
the  cost  of  which  we  presume  may  amount  to  about  one 
hundred  pounds  sterling,  or,  perhaps,  with  the  charges, 
something  more.  .  .  .  Let  the  bell  be  cast  by  the  best 
workmen,  and  examined  carefully  before  it  is  shipped, 
with  the  following  words  well-shaped  in  large  letters 
round  it,  viz: — 

"  '  By  order  of  the  Assembly  of  the  Province  of  Penn 
sylvania,  for  the  State  House  in  the  city  of  Philadel 
phia,  1752,' 

"  And  underneath, 

" '  Proclaim  Liberty  throughout  all  the  land  to  all 
the  inhabitants  thereof— Levit.  XXV.  10.'  " 

When  the  new  bell  was  hung  it  was  cracked  by  a 
stroke  of  the  clapper.  Isaac  Norris  wrote: 

"  We  concluded  to  send  it  back  by  Captain  Budden, 
but  he  could  not  take  it  on  board,  upon  which  two  in 
genious  workmen  undertook  to  cast  it  here,  and  I  am 
just  now  informed  they  have  this  day  opened  the  Mould 
and  have  got  a  good  bell,  which,  I  confess,  pleases  me 


166        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

very  much,  that  we  should  first  venture  upon  and  suc 
ceed  in  the  greatest  bell  cast,  for  aught  I  know,  in 
English  America.  The  mould  was  finished  in  a  very 
masterly  manner,  and  the  letters,  I  am  told,  are  better 
than  [on]  the  old  one.  When  we  broke  up  the  metal, 
our  judges  here  generally  agreed  it  was  too  high  and 
brittle,  and  cast  several  little  bells  out  of  it  to  try  the 
sound  and  strength,  and  fixed  upon  a  mixture  of  an 
ounce  and  a  half  of  copper  to  one  pound  of  the  old  bell, 
and  in  this  proportion  we  now  have  it." 


But  when  the  bell  was  in  place  it  was  found  to  con 
tain  too  much  copper,  and  Pass  &  Stow,  the  founders, 
"  were  so  teazed  with  the  witticisms  of  the  town,"  that 
they  begged  to  be  allowed  to  recast  it.  In  June,  1753, 
this  third  bell  was  hung,  and  in  the  following  Septem 
ber  the  founders  were  paid  £60  13s.  5d. 

In  1752  arrangements  were  made  for  a  clock.  The 
works  were  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  main  building, 
immediately  under  the  roof.  These  were  connected  by 
rods,  enclosed  in  pipes,  with  the  hands  on  the  dial 
plates  at  either  gable.  Early  views  of  the  State  House 
show  these  dials.  The  cost  of  the  clock,  which  included 
care  for  six  years,  was  £494  5s.  5Jd. 

During  the  twenty  years  that  followed  the  installa 
tion  of  the  clock  and  the  bell  the  State  House  became 
a  civic  centre  of  note ;  but  not  until  the  stirring  events 
that  led  up  to  the  Revolution  did  it  become  of  special 
interest  to  other  colonies  than  Pennsylvania.  On  April 
25,  1775,  the  day  after  news  came  to  Philadelphia  of 
the  battles  of  Lexington  and  Concord,  the  great  bell 
sounded  a  call  to  arms  that  was  the  real  beginning  of 
making  the  building  a  national  shrine.  In  response 
to  the  call  eight  thousand  people  gathered  in  the  Yard 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         167 

to  consider  measures  of  defence.  On  April  26  the 
newspapers  reported  that  "  the  company  unanimously 
agreed  to  associate  for  the  purpose  of  defending  with 
arms  their  lives,  liberty,  and  property,  against  all  at 
tempts  to  deprive  them  of  them."  This  determination 
of  the  people  was  soon  sanctioned  by  the  Assembly,  and 
Pennsylvania  prepared  to  raise  its  quota  towards  the 
Army  of  the  Revolution. 

On  May  10,  1775,  the  Second  Continental  Congress 
met  in  the  Assembly  Chamber,  and  took  action  that 
made  inevitable  the  adoption  of  the  Declaration  of  In 
dependence  the  next  year.  On  Friday,  June  7,  1776, 
in  the  Eastern  Room  on  the  first  floor  of  the  State 
House,  Richard  Henry  Lee  of  Virginia  introduced  the 
following : 

"  Resolved,  That  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of 
right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent  States,  that 
they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British 
Crown  and  that  all  political  connection  between  them 
and  the  State  of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be, 
totally  dissolved." 

At  the  same  time  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  was 
considering,  in  the  chamber  upstairs,  what  instruction 
to  give  to  its  delegates.  When  the  Assembly  adjourned 
the  Continental  Congress  removed  to  the  upper  room. 
There,  on  July  2,  the  Virginian's  motion  was  carried. 
Later  the  Declaration  itself  was  adopted,  and  on  July 
4,  it  was 

"  Resolved,  that  Copies  of  the  Declaration  be  sent 
to  the  several  assemblies,  conventions,  and  committees 
or  councils  of  safety,  and  to  the  several  commanding 
officers  of  the  Continental  troops ;  that  it  be  proclaimed 


168        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

in  each  of  the  United  States  and  at  the  head  of  the 
army." 

It  was  ordered  that  the  Declaration  be  proclaimed 
from  the  State  House  on  Monday,  July  8,  1776.  On 
that  day  the  State  House  bell  sounded  its  glad  call; 
for  the  first  time  did  it  indeed  "  proclaim  liberty 
throughout  all  the  land  unto  all  the  inhabitants  there 
of."  And  in  the  hearing  of  those  who  gathered  in  re 
sponse  to  its  call  the  Declaration  was  read. 

From  that  day  the  State  House  has  been  known  as 
Independence  Hall,  while  the  State  House  Yard  has 
become  Independence  Square. 

The  sittings  of  Congress  in  Independence  Hall  were 
interrupted  by  the  approach  of  the  British.  For  five 
months  the  building  was  used  as  a  British  prison  and 
hospital.  But  on  July  2,  1778,  Congress  returned;  the 
building  once  more  belonged  to  the  nation. 

The  building  became  more  than  ever  a  national  shrine 
when,  in  1787,  the  Constitutional  Convention  met  there. 
On  September  17,  1787,  the  votes  of  eleven  States  were 
recorded  in  favor  of  the  Constitution,  and  Benjamin 
Franklin,  looking  toward  a  sun  which  was  blazoned 
on  the  President's  chair,  said  of  it  to  those  near  him, 
"  In  the  vicissitudes  of  hope  and  fear  I  was  not  able 
to  tell  whether  it  was  rising  or  setting;  now  I  know 
that  it  is  the  rising  sun." 

In  1790,  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  met  in 
the  western  portion  of  the  buildings  on  the  Square, 
erected  in  1785  for  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly.1  This 

1  A  building  to  the  east  of  Independence  Hall  was  completed  in  1791. 
In  this  building,  which  was  the  Philadelphia  City  Hall  until  1854,  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  held  its  first  session,  February  7, 
1791. 

In  1813  the  arcades  connecting  the  main  building  with  the  wings 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         169 

building  was,  by  that  body,  offered  to  Congress  and 
accepted  for  the  term  of  ten  years,  until  the  Capital 
should  be  removed  to  the  shore  of  the  Potomac. 

During  these  ten  years,  and  for  thirty-five  years  more, 
the  Liberty  Bell  continued  to  sound  notes  of  joy  and 
of  sorrow.  On  July  8,  1835,  it  was  tolling  for  Chief 
Justice  Marshall.  When  the  funeral  procession  was 
on  Chestnut  Street,  not  far  from  Independence  Hall, 
the  bell  cracked.  Since  that  day  it  has  been  mute. 

The  passing  years  have  brought  many  changes  to 
Independence  Hall,  as  well  as  to  the  Liberty  Bell.  The 
bell  cannot  be  renewed,  but  the  historic  building  and 
the  Square  have  been  restored  until  they  present  essen 
tially  the  appearance  of  the  days  of  1776.  The  chief 
difference  is  in  the  steeple.  The  present  steeple  was 
built  in  1828.  It  is  much  like  the  old  steeple,  but  a 
story  higher. 

As  the  visitor  passes  from  room  to  room  of  the  ven 
erable  building,  and  examines  the  relics  and  studies 
the  portraits  of  the  great  men  who  gathered  there  so 
long  ago,  his  heart  is  stirred  to  thankfulness  to  those 
who  dared  to  call  a  nation  into  being,  and  he  cannot 
but  think  that  it  is  good  to  live  for  one's  country. 

were  removed,  and  new  buildings  were  erected  which  connected  Inde 
pendence  Hall  with  the  corner  buildings. 

In   1816  the  city  of  Philadelphia  became  the  owner  of  the  whole 
property. 


170        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 


XXXVII 

THE  DAVID  RITTENHOUSE  HOME,  NEAR 
PHILADELPHIA 

THE  HEADQUARTERS  OF  BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN'S  FRIEND 
AND  CO-LABORER 

"See  the  sage  Rittenhouse  with  ardent  eye 
Lift  the  long  tube  and  pierce  the  starry  sky! 
He  marks  what  laws  the  eccentric  wanderers  bind, 
Copies  creation  in  his  forming  mind, 
And  bids  beneath  his  hand  in  semblance  rise 
With  mimic  orbs  the  labors  of  the  skies." 

This  was  Barlow's  way  of  telling  of  the  achievement 
of  David  Rittenhouse,  the  colonial  astronomer,  in  fash 
ioning  the  marvellous  orrery,  the  mechanical  repre 
sentation  of  the  movements  of  the  planetary  system. 
Thomas  Jefferson's  prose  description  was  a  little  more 
readable : 

"  A  machine  far  surpassing  in  ingenuity  of  con 
trivance,  accuracy  and  utility  anything  of  the  kind 
ever  before  constructed.  .  .  .  He  has  not  indeed  made 
a  world,  but  he  has  by  imitation  approached  more  its 
Maker  than  any  man  who  has  lived  from  the  creation 
to  this  day." 

The  father  of  the  maker  of  the  orrery  was  a  paper 
manufacturer  near  Germantown,  but  when  David  was 
three  years  old  he  moved  to  a  little  farm  in  Norriton, 
nineteen  miles  from  Philadelphia,  where,  in  1749,  he 
built  the  stone  house  in  which  his  son  spent  the  rest 
of  his  life. 

It  was  his  purpose  to  make  a  farmer  of  David,  and 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         171 

he  might  have  succeeded  if  he  had  not  invested  in  a 
few  mathematical  books.  The  twelve-year-old  boy  was 
fascinated  by  these  volumes.  Samuel  W.  Pennypacker 
has  told  the  result: 

"  The  handles  of  his  plough,  and  even  the  fences 
around  the  fields,  he  covered  with  mathematical  calcu 
lations.  ...  At  seventeen  he  made  a  wooden  clock,  and 
afterward  one  in  metal.  Having  thus  tested  his  ability 
in  an  art  in  which  he  had  never  received  any  instruc 
tion,  he  secured  from  his  somewhat  reluctant  father 
money  enough  to  buy  in  Philadelphia  the  necessary 
tools,  and  after  holding  a  shop  by  the  roadside,  set  up 
in  business  as  a  clock  and  mathematical  instrument 
maker." 

Dr.  Benjamin  Rush  once  said  that  "  without  library, 
friends,  or  society,  and  with  but  two  or  three  books, 
he  became,  before  he  had  reached  his  four-and-twentieth 
year,  the  rival  of  two  of  the  greatest  mathematicians 
of  Europe." 

The  skilled  astronomer  was  soon  called  upon  to  ren 
der  a  service  to  several  of  the  Colonies.  By  means  of 
astronomical  instruments  he  did  such  accurate  work 
in  marking  out  the  boundary  between  Delaware  and 
Pennsylvania  that  Mason  and  Dixon  later  accepted  his 
results,  and  he  settled  the  dispute  between  New  Jersey 
and  New  York  as  to  the  point  where  the  forty-first 
degree  of  latitude  touches  the  Hudson  River.  Perhaps, 
however,  the  achievement  that  won  for  him  greatest 
fame  was  the  observation,  made  in  1769,  of  the  transit 
of  Venus.  The  importance  of  the  observation  is  evi 
dent  from  the  facts  that  it  provides  the  best  means  for 
calculating  the  distance  between  the  heavenly  bodies, 
which  had  never  been  satisfactorily  made,  and  that  the 


172        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

opportunity  would  not  occur  again  for  one  hundred 
and  five  years.  After  months  of  preparation,  which 
included  the  making  of  delicate  instruments,  Ritten- 
house,  one  of  a  committee  of  three  appointed  by  the 
American  Philosophical  Society,  succeeded.  In  the 
words  of  Pennypacker,  "  The  first  approximately  ac 
curate  results  in  the  measurement  of  the  spheres  were 
given  to  the  world,  not  by  the  schooled  and  salaried 
astronomers  who  watched  from  the  magnificent  royal 
observatories  of  Europe,  but  by  unpaid  amateurs  and 
devotees  to  science  in  the  youthful  province  of  Penn 
sylvania." 

Benjamin  Franklin  found  in  him  a  kindred  spirit, 
and  the  Philadelphian  was  frequently  a  visitor  at  the 
Norriton  farmhouse.  On  Sunday  the  two  friends  often 
went  to  the  old  Norriton  Presbyterian  Church,  which 
had  been  built  on  the  corner  of  the  Rittenhouse  farm, 
within  sight  of  the  house.  This  church,  which  prob 
ably  dates  from  1698,  is  still  standing  in  good  repair. 

Some  years  after  the  successful  observation  of  the 
transit  of  Venus  brought  fame  to  the  American  astrono 
mer,  he  moved  to  Philadelphia.  There,  among  other 
duties,  he  had  charge  of  the  State  House  clock. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolution  the  Council  of 
Safety  asked  that  he  should  "  prepare  moulds  for  the 
casting  of  clock  weights,  and  send  them  to  some  iron 
furnace,  and  order  a  sufficient  number  to  be  imme 
diately  made  for  the  purpose  of  exchanging  them  with 
the  inhabitants  of  this  city  for  their  leaden  clock 
weights."  The  leaden  weights  were  needed  for  bullets. 
Later  he  was  sent  to  survey  the  shores  of  the  Delaware, 
to  choose  the  best  points  for  fortifications. 

When  he  became  Engineer  of  the  Council  of  Safety 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         173 

"  he  was  called  upon  to  arrange  for  casting  can 
non  of  iron  and  brass,  to  view  the  site  for  the  erection 
of  a  Continental  powder  mill,  to  conduct  experiments 
for  rifling  cannon  and  muskets,  to  fix  upon  a  method  of 
fastening  a  chain  for  the  protection  of  the  river,  to 
superintend  the  manufacture  of  saltpeter,  and  to  locate 
a  magazine  for  military  stores  on  the  Wissahickon." 

This  was  but  the  beginning  of  service  to  Pennsyl 
vania  during  the  Revolution.  His  activities  were  so 
valuable  to  the  Colonies  that  a  Tory  poet  published  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Evening  Post  of  December  2,  1777, 
a  verse  addressed  "  To  David  Rittenhouse,"  of  which 
the  first  stanza  read: 

"  Meddle  not  with  state  affairs, 
Keep   acquaintance   with  the  stars; 
Science,  David,  is  thy  line; 
Warp  not  Nature's  great  design. 
If  thou  to  fame  would 'st  rise." 

The  following  year  Thomas  Jefferson  wrote  to  him: 

"  You  should  consider  that  the  world  has  but  one 
Rittenhouse,  and  never  had  one  before.  .  .  .  Are  those 
powers,  then,  which,  being  intended  for  the  erudition 
of  the  world,  are,  like  light  and  air,  the  world's  com 
mon  property,  to  be  taken  from  their  proper  pursuit 
to  do  the  commonplace  drudgery  of  governing  a  single 
State?  " 

To  the  call  of  the  nation  Rittenhouse  responded  in 
April,  1792,  when  President  Washington  appointed  him 
the  first  Director  of  the  Mint. 

His  closing  years  were  full  of  honors,  but  his 
strength  was  declining  rapidly;  he  had  spent  himself 
30  fully  for  his  country  that  his  power  of  resistance 


174        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

was  small.  Just  before  he  died,  on  June  26,  1796,  lie 
said  to  a  friend  who  had  been  writing  to  him,  "  You 
make  the  way  to  God  easier." 


XXXVIII 

THE  HEADQUARTERS  AT  VALLEY  FORGE, 
PENNSYLVANIA 

WHERE  WASHINGTON  LIVED  DURING  THE 
WINTER  OF  1777-78      . 

A  few  rods  from  the  beautiful  Schuylkill  River,  at 
Valley  Forge,  Pennsylvania,  twenty-four  miles  from 
Philadelphia,  is  the  quaint  stone  house  where  Wash 
ington  spent  nearly  six  months  of  the  most  trying  year 
of  the  Revolution. 

While  the  British  troops  were  occupying  Philadel 
phia  Congress  was  in  session  at  York,  Pennsylvania. 
Valley  Forge  was  accordingly  a  strategic  location,  for 
from  here  it  was  comparatively  simple  to  guard  the 
roads  leading  out  of  Philadelphia,  and  to  prevent  both 
the  exit  of  the  British  and  the  entrance  of  supplies 
designed  for  the  enemy. 

The  eleven  thousand  men  who  marched  to  the  site 
selected  for  the  camp  were  miserably  equipped  for  a 
winter  in  the  open.  Provisions  were  scarce,  and  cloth 
ing  and  shoes  were  even  more  scarce.  But  the  men 
looked  forward  bravely  to  the  months  of  exposure  be 
fore  them. 

Washington  did  everything  possible  to  provide  for 
their  comfort.  Realizing  that  the  soldiers  needed  some- 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         175 

thing  more  than  the  tents  in  which  they  were  living 
at  first,  he  gave  orders  that  huts  should  be  built  for 
them.  The  commanding  officers  of  the  regiments  were 
instructed  to  divide  their  soldiers  into  parties  of  twelve, 
to  see  that  each  party  had  the  necessary  tools,  and  to 
superintend  the  building  of  a  hut  for  each  group  of 
twelve  soldiers,  according  to  carefully  stated  dimen 
sions.  A  reward  was  offered  to  the  party  in  each  regi 
ment  which  should  complete  its  hut  in  the  quickest 
and  best  manner.  Since  valuable  time  would  be  lost 
in  preparing  boards  for  the  roofs,  he  promised  a  second 
sword  to  the  officer  or  soldier  who  should  devise  a  mate 
rial  for  this  purpose  cheaper  and  more  quickly  made 
than  boards. 

Some  of  the  first  huts  were  covered  with  leaves,  but 
it  was  necessary  to  provide  a  more  lasting  covering. 
After  a  few  weeks  fairly  acceptable  quarters  were  pro 
vided  for  the  men,  in  spite  of  the  scarcity  of  tools. 
Colonel  Pickering,  on  January  5,  wrote  to  Mrs.  Picker 
ing,  "  The  huts  are  very  wTarm  and  comfortable,  being 
very  good  log  huts,  pointed  with  clay,  and  the  roof 
made  tight  with  the  same." 

At  first,  Washington  sought  to  encourage  his  soldiers 
by  assuring  them  that  he  would  accept  no  better  quar 
ters  than  could  be  given  them ;  he  would  set  the  example 
by  passing  the  winter  in  a  hut.  But  officers  and  men 
alike  urged  that  it  would  be  unwise  to  risk  his  health 
in  this  way,  and  he  consented  to  seek  quarters  in  a 
near-by  house.  However,  he  refused  to  make  himself 
comfortable  until  the  men  were  provided  for. 

His  headquarters  were  finally  fixed  in  the  two-story 
stone  house  of  Isaac  Potts.  There  he  met  his  officers, 
received  visitors,  planned  for  the  welfare  of  the  army, 


176        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

and  parried  the  attacks  of  those  who  could  not  under 
stand  the  difficulties  of  the  situation.  Once  he  wrote 
to  Congress :  "  Three  days  successively  we  have  been 
destitute  of  bread.  Two  days  we  have  been  entirely 
without  meat.  The  men  must  be  supplied,  or  they 
cannot  be  commanded." 

To  the  objections  of  those  who  thought  that  the  army 
should  not  be  inactive  during  the  winter  weather,  he 
wrote : 

"  I  can  assure  these  gentlemen,  that  it  is  a  much 
easier  and  less  distressing  thing  to  draw  remonstrances 
in  a  comfortable  room  by  a  good  fireside,  than  to  occupy 
a  cold,  bleak  hill,  and  sleep  under  frost  and  snow,  with 
out  clothes  or  blankets.  However,  although  they  seem 
to  have  little  pity  for  the  naked  and  distressed  soldiers, 
I  feel  superabundantly  for  them,  and,  from  my  soul, 
I  pity  those  miseries  which  it  is  neither  in  my  power 
to  relieve  or  prevent," 

The  heavy  hearts  of  Washington  and  his  officers  re 
joiced  when,  on  February  23,  1778,  Baron  Steuben  and 
Peter  S.  Du  Ponceau  called  at  headquarters.  Du  Pon 
ceau  wrote  later: 

"  I  cannot  describe  the  impression  that  the  first  sight 
of  that  great  man  made  upon  me.  I  could  not  keep  my 
eyes  from  that  imposing  countenance — grave,  yet  not 
severe;  affable,  without  familiarity.  ...  I  have  never 
seen  a  picture  that  represents  him  to  me  as  I  saw  him 
at  Valley  Forge.  ...  I  had  frequent  opportunities  of 
seeing  him,  as  it  was  my  duty  to  accompany  the  Baron 
when  he  dined  with  him,  which  was  sometimes  twice  or 
thrice  in  the  same  week.  We  visited  him  also  in  the 
evening,  when  Mrs.  Washington  was  at  head-quarters. 
We  were  in  a  manner  domesticated  in  the  family." 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         177 

An  order  was  sent  from  headquarters,  dated  March 
28,  that  Baron  Steuben  be  respected  and  obeyed  as 
Inspector  General.  The  need  of  his  services  is  revealed 
by  his  description  of  the  condition  of  the  army  when 
he  arrived  in  camp  : 

"  The  arms  at  Valley  Forge  were  in  a  horrible  condi 
tion,  covered  with  rust,  half  of  them  without  bayonets, 
many  from  which  a  single  shot  could  not  be  fired.  The 
pouches  were  quite  as  bad  as  the  arms.  A  great  many 
of  the  men  had  tin  boxes  instead  of  pouches,  others  had 
cow-horns;  and  muskets,  carbines,  fowling-pieces,  and 
rifles  were  to  be  seen  in  the  same  company.  .  .  .  The 
men  were  literally  naked.  .  .  .  The  officers  who  had 
coats,  had  them  of  every  color  and  make.  I  saw  offi 
cers,  at  a  grand  parade  in  Valley  Forge,  mounting 
guard  in  a  sort  of  dressing-gown,  made  of  an  old  blan 
ket  or  woolen  bed-cover.  ..." 

Mrs.  Washington  joined  the  circle  at  headquarters 
on  February  10.  She  was  not  favorably  impressed. 
"  The  General's  apartment  is  very  small,"  she  wrote. 
"  He  has  had  a  log  cabin  built  to  dine  in,  which  has 
made  our  quarters  much  more  tolerable  than  they  were 
at  first." 

The  most  joyful  day  at  Valley  Forge  was  May  7, 
1778,  when  a  fete  was  held  to  celebrate  the  conclusion 
of  the  treaty  of  alliance  between  France  and  the  United 
States.  After  religious  service,  the  army  was  reviewed, 
and  Washington  dined  in  public  with  his  officers. 
"  When  the  General  took  his  leave,  there  was  a  uni 
versal  clap,  with  loud  huzzas,  which  continued  till  he 
had  proceeded  a  quarter  of  a  mile." 

On  June  18  the  glad  tidings  came  to  headquarters 
that  the  British  were  evacuating  Philadelphia.  Next 


178        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

day  the  camp  was  left  behind.     Washington  did  not 
see  it  again  for  nine  years. 

In  1879  the  Isaac  Potts  house  was  bought  by  the 
Continental  Memorial  Association  of  Valley  Forge. 
And  in  1893  the  Pennsylvania  Legislature  created  the 
Valley  Forge  Park  Commission,  which  has  since  ac 
quired  the  entire  encampment,  has  laid  it  out  as  a  park, 
and  has  arranged  for  the  erection  of  many  monuments 
and  markers  and  a  number  of  memorial  structures. 
But  the  house  in  which  Washington  lived  must  always 
be  the  central  feature  of  the  grounds. 


XXXIX 

THREE  HEADQUARTERS  OF  WASHINGTON 

PENNYPACKER'S   MILLS,  DAWESFIELD,   AND   EMLEN   HOUSE, 
NEAR  PHILADELPHIA 

.  During  the  closing  months  of  1777,  one  of  the  dark 
est  times  of  the  Revolution,  Washington  made  famous 
by  his  occupancy  three  houses,  all  located  within  a  few 
miles  of  Philadelphia.  The  first  of  these,  Pennypack- 
er's  Mills,  is  the  only  building  used  by  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  during  the  war  that  is  still  in  the  hands  of  the 
family  that  owned  it  when  he  was  there. 

Pennypacker's  Mills  is  delightfully  situated  in  the 
angle  formed  by  the  union  of  the  two  forks  of  the 
Perkiomen,  the  largest  tributary  of  the  Schuylkill. 
Hans  Joest  Heijt,  who  built  the  grist  mill  and  house 
on  the  land  in  1720,  sold  the  property  in  1730  to  John 
Pauling.  He  was  succeeded  in  1757  by  Peter  Panne- 


EMLEN  HOUSE,   NEAR  PHILADELPHIA,   PENNA. 


Photo  by  Ph.B  .Wallace 
See  page  178 


FATLANDS,   NEAR  PHOEMXVILLK,   PE.NX A. 


1'liotn  by  Ph.B.  Wnllitn 
See  page  187 


WAYNESBOROUGH,   NEAR  1'AOLl,    1 


See  page  192 


MORAVIAN  f'HURCH,   BETHLEHEM,  PEXNA. 


/>//  Her.  A .  D.  Therelar,  Bethlehem 
See  page  190 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         179 

becker.  His  son  Samuel  was  the  owner  of  the  house 
by  the  creek  when,  on  September  26,  1777,  Washington 
reached  the  Mills. 

The  orderly  book  of  the  following  days  and  letters 
written  from  the  house  shed  light  on  the  events  of  the 
stay  here. 

On  the  day  he  reached  the  Mills,  Washington  wrote 
to  William  Henry  at  Lancaster : 

"  You  are  hereby  authorized  to  impress  all  the  Blan 
kets,  Shoes,  Stockings,  and  other  Articles  of  Clothing 
that  can  be  spared  by  the  Inhabitants  of  the  County 
of  Lancaster,  for  the  Use  of  the  Continental  Army, 
paying  for  the  same  at  reasonable  Rates  or  giving 
Certificates." 

The  entry  in  the  orderly  book  on  September  28  read : 

"  The  Commander-in-Chief  has  the  happiness  again 
to  congratulate  the  army  on  the  success  of  the  Ameri 
cans  to  the  Northward.  On  the  19th  inst.  an  engage 
ment  took  place  between  General  Burgoyne's  army  and 
the  left  wing  of  ours,  under  General  Gates.  The  battle 
began  at  10  o'clock,  and  lasted  till  night — our  troops 
fighting  with  the  greatest  bravery,  not  giving  an  inch 
of  ground.  ...  To  celebrate  this  success  the  General 
orders  that  at  4  o'clock  this  afternoon  all  the  troops 
be  paraded  and  served  with  a  gill  of  rum  per  man,  and 
that  at  the  same  time  there  be  discharges  of  13  pieces 
of  artillery  from  the  park." 

On  the  same  day  there  was  a  council  of  war.  It  was 
found  that  there  were  in  camp,  fit  for  duty,  5,472  men. 
The  whole  army  in  all  the  camps  then  contained  about 
eight  thousand  Continental  troops  and  three  thousand 
militia. 


180        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 
Next  day  Washington  wrote : 

"  I  shall  move  the  Army  four  or  five  miles  lower 
down  to-day  from  whence  we  may  reconnoitre  and  fix 
upon  a  proper  situation,  at  such  distance  from  the 
Enemy,  as  will  entitle  us  to  make  an  attack,  should  we 
see  a  proper  opening,  or  stand  upon  the  defensive  till 
we  obtain  further  reinforcements.  ..." 

Later  in  the  day  the  army  marched  to  Skippack, 
within  about  twenty-five  miles  of  Philadelphia.  The 
next  stage  in  the  advance  was  Methacton  Hill,  and  from 
there  the  army  began  to  move,  on  October  3,  at  seven 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  to  the  attack  on  the  British  at 
Germantown. 

After  the  battle  of  Germantown  Washington  wrote 
to  the  President  of  Congress: 

"  In  the  midst  of  the  most  promising  appearances, 
when  everything  gave  the  most  flattering  hopes  of  vic 
tory,  the  troops  began  suddenly  to  retreat,  and  entirely 
left  the  field,  in  spite  of  every  effort  that  could  be  made 
to  rally  them." 

The  Commander's  marvellous  ability  to  handle  men 
was  shown  by  the  entry  made  in  his  orderly  book  the 
next  day,  when  he  was  back  at  Pennypacker's  Mills. 
Instead  of  reprimanding  the  soldiers  for  their  strange 
retreat,  he  "  returned  thanks  to  the  generals  and  other 
officers  and  men  concerned  in  the  attack  on  the  enemy's 
left  wing,  for  their  spirit  and  bravery,  shown  in  draw 
ing  the  enemy  from  field  to  field,  and  although  .  .  . 
they  finally  retreated,  they  nevertheless  see  that  the 
enemy  is  not  proof  against  a  vigorous  attack,  and  may 
be  put  to  flight  when  boldly  pursued." 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         181 

The  good  results  of  this  message  were  evident  from 
the  letter  of  a  soldier  written  from  the  Mills  on  Octo 
ber  6.  He  said: 

"  Our  excellent  General  Washington  .  .  .  intends 
soon  to  try  another  bout  with  them.  All  our  men  are 
in  good  spirits  and  I  think  grow  fonder  of  fighting  the 
more  they  have  of  it." 

To  the  joy  of  the  soldiers  the  word  was  given  on 
October  8  to  march  toward  Philadelphia.  In  three 
short  stages  the  army  arrived,  on  October  21,  at  Whit- 
pain,  where  Washington  took  up  his  headquarters  in 
the  house  of  James  Morris,  Dawesfield.  From  here 
messages  were  sent  that  tied  his  men  still  closer  to 
him.  On  October  24  he  issued  a  proclamation  of  full 
pardon  to  deserters  who  should  return  before  a  specified 
date,  and  next  day  he  congratulated  the  troops  on  the 
victory  at  Red  Bank. 

The  chief  event  of  the  stay  at  Dawesfield  was  the 
court-martial  convened  October  30,  to  try  Brigadier- 
General  Wayne,  at  his  own  request,  on  the  charge  that 
his  negligence  was  responsible  for  the  defeat  at  Paoli, 
September  20.  The  verdict  was  that  "  he  did  every 
thing  that  could  be  expected  from  an  active,  brave,  and 
vigilant  officer,  under  the  orders  he  then  had." 

Three  days  after  the  trial  the  army  moved  to  White- 
marsh,  near  the  junction  of  the  Skippack  and  Bethle 
hem  roads.  There  Washington  lived  at  Emlen  House, 
of  which  Lossing  says,  "  At  the  time  of  the  Revolution 
it  was  a  sort  of  baronial  hall  in  size  and  character, 
where  its  wealthy  owner  dispensed  hospitality  to  all 
who  came  under  its  roof." 

The  house  was  modernized  in  1854,  but  it  still  re- 


182        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

tains  many  of  the  original  features.     Among  these  is 
the  moat  at  the  side  of  the  house. 

Washington  followed  the  example  of  the  owner  of 
the  house  by  welcoming  guests,  in  spite  of  the 
handicaps  mentioned  in  the  orderly  book  on  Novem 
ber  7: 

"  Since  .  .  .  the  middle  of  September  last,  he  [the 
General]  has  been  without  his  baggage,  and  on  that 
account  is  unable  to  receive  company  in  the  manner 
he  could  wish.  He  nevertheless  desires  the  Generals, 
Field  Officers  and  Brigadier-Major  of  the  day,  to  dine 
with  him  in  the  future,  at  three  o'clock  in  the  after- 


It  was  from  Emlen  House  that  Washington  gave  the 
first  intimation  that  he  knew  of  the  infamous  attempts 
to  discredit  and  displace  him  which  later  became  known 
as  the  "  Conway  Cabal."  To  General  Conway  himself 
he  wrote  saying  that  he  had  heard  of  Conway's  letter 
to  General  Gates  in  which  he  had  said,  "  Heaven  has 
been  determined  to  save  your  country,  or  a  weak 
General  and  bad  counsellors  would  have  ruined 
it." 

A  few  glimpses  of  the  awful  condition  of  privation 
that  were  to  prevail  that  winter  at  Valley  Forge  were 
given  on  November  22: 

"  The  Commander-in-Chief  offers  a  reward  of  ten  dol 
lars  to  any  person,  who  shall,  by  nine  o'clock  on  Monday 
morning,  produce  the  best  substitute  for  shoes,  made  of 
raw  hide." 

The  movement  to  Valley  Forge  was  begun  on  Decem 
ber  1.  The  army  went  by  way  of  "  Sweeds "  Ford 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         183 

(Norristown),  where,  as  the  quaint  diary  of  Albigence 
Waldo  says: 

"A  Bridge  of  Waggons  made  across  the  Schuylkill 
last  night  consisted  of  36  waggons,  with  a  bridge  of 
Rails  between  each.  Sun  Set — We  are  order'd  to  march 
over  the  River.  The  Army  were  'till  Sun  Rise  crossing 
the  River — some  at  the  Waggon  Bridge,  &  some  at  the 
Raft  Bridge  below.  Cold  and  Uncomfortable." 


XL 

SWEETBRIER-ON-THE-SCHUYLKILL, 
PHILADELPHIA 

THE  HOME  OF  THE  FATHER  OF  THE  FREE  SCHOOLS 
OF  PENNSYLVANIA 

When  Samuel  Breck  was  fifty-eight  years  and  six 
months  old — on  January  17,  1830 — he  wrote: 

"  My  residence  has  been  ...  for  more  than  thirty 
years  ...  on  an  estate  belonging  to  me,  situated  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Schuylkill,  in  the  township  of 
Blockley,  county  of  Philadelphia,  and  two  miles  from 
the  western  part  of  the  city.  The  mansion  on  this 
estate  I  built  in  1797.  It  is  a  fine  stone  house,  rough 
cast,  fifty-three  feet  long,  thirty-eight  broad,  and  three 
stories  high,  having  out-buildings  of  every  kind  suitable 
for  elegance  and  comfort.  The  prospect  consists  of  the 
river,  animated  by  its  great  trade,  carried  on  in  boats 
of  about  thirty  tons,  drawn  by  horses;  of  a  beautiful 
sloping  lawn,  terminating  at  that  river,  now  nearly  four 
hundred  yards  wide  opposite  the  portico ;  of  side-screen 
woods;  of  gardens,  green-house,  etc.  Sweetbrier  is  the 
name  of  my  villa." 


184        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Mr.  Breck  spent  his  boyhood  in  Boston,  but  his  par 
ents  removed  to  Philadelphia  in  1792  to  escape  what 
they  felt  was  an  unjust  system  of  taxation.  During 
the  first  years  of  their  residence  in  the  city  of  William 
Penn  it  had  "  a  large  society  of  elegant  and  fashion 
able  and  stylish  people,"  Mr.  Breck  said  in  his  diary. 
"  Congress  held  its  sessions  in  Philadelphia  until  the 
year  1800,  and  gave  to  the  city  the  style  and  tone  of 
a  capital.  All  the  distinguished  emigrants  from  France 
took  up  their  abode  there." 

Among  the  associates  of  the  Brecks  were  some  of 
the  leaders  of  the  new  nation.  Samuel  Breck  was  fre 
quently  at  the  Robert  Morris  house,  and  later,  during 
the  four  years'  imprisonment  of  Mr.  Morris,  he  "  visited 
that  great  man  in  the  Prune  Street  debtors'  apartment, 
and  saw  him  in  his  ugly  whitewashed  vault." 

The  diarist's  comment  was  bitter :  "  In  Rome  or 
Greece  a  thousand  statesmen  would  have  honored  his 
mighty  services.  In  a  monarchy  ...  he  would  have 
been  appropriately  pensioned;  in  America,  Republican 
America,  not  a  single  voice  was  raised  in  Congress  or 
elsewhere  in  aid  of  him  or  his  family." 

There  is  not  a  more  striking  passage  in  the  diaries 
than  that  written  on  August  27,  1814,  during  the  sec 
ond  war  with  England: 

"  I  was  in  town  to-day  ...  at  half  past  twelve 
o'clock  I  went  with  an  immense  crowd  to  the  post- 
office  to  hear  the  news  from  the  South.  The  postmaster 
read  it  to  us  from  a  chamber  window.  It  imported  that 
the  navy -yard  had  been  burnt  (valued  at  from  six  to 
eight  millions  of  dollars)  including  the  new  frigate 
Essex,  sloop-of-war  Argus,  some  old  frigates,  a  vast 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         185 

quantity  of  timber,  from  five  to  eight  hundred  large 
guns,  and  many  manufactories  of  cordage,  etc.,  by  our 
people;  that  the  President's  House,  Capitol,  and  other 
important  buildings  had  been  destroyed,  and  all  this 
by  a  handful  of  men,  say,  six  thousand !  " 

The  diary  told  also  of  some  interesting  experiences 
at  the  mansion  on  the  Schuylkill.  In  1807  "  a  newly 
invented  iron  grate  calculated  for  coal "  was  installed 
at  Sweetbrier.  After  less  than  three  weeks'  trial  Mr. 
Breck  wrote,  "  By  my  experiment  in  coal  fuel  I  find 
that  one  fireplace  will  burn  from  three  to  three  and  a 
half  bushels  per  week  in  hard  weather  and  about  two 
and  a  half  in  moderate  weather.  This  averages  three 
bushels  for  twenty-five  weeks,  the  period  of  burning 
fire  in  parlors."  The  coal  cost  forty-five  cents  a 
bushel,  and  Mr.  Breck  decided  that  wood  was  a  cheaper 
fuel. 

Even  in  those  early  days  city  families  had  their 
troubles  with  servants.  "  This  is  a  crying  evil,  which 
most  families  feel  very  sensibly  at  present,"  was  Mr. 
Breck's  sorrowful  statement.  Fifteen  years  after  this 
entry  was  written,  a  bitter  complaint  was  made: 

"  In  my  family,  consisting  of  nine  or  ten  persons, 
the  greatest  abundance  is  provided;  commonly  seventy 
pounds  of  fresh  butcher's  meat,  poultry  and  fish  a  week, 
and  when  I  have  company  nearly  twice  as  much;  the 
best  and  kindest  treatment  is  given  to  the  servants; 
they  are  seldom  visited  by  Mrs.  Breck,  and  then  always 
in  a  spirit  of  courtesy;  their  wages  are  the  highest 
going,  and  uniformly  paid  to  them  when  asked  for; 
yet  during  the  last  twelve  months  we  have  had  seven 
different  cooks  and  five  different  waiters.  ...  I  pay, 
for  instance,  to  my  cook  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents,  and 
chambermaid  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  week ; 


186        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

to  my  gardener  eleven  dollars  per  month ;  to  the  waiter 
ten  dollars;  to  the  farm  servant  ten  dollars,  etc.,  etc. 
Now,  if  they  remain  steady  (with  meat  three  times 
a  day)  for  three  or  four  years,  they  can  lay  by  enough 
to  purchase  two  or  three  hundred  acres  of  new  land." 

On  one  occasion,  learning  that  the  ship  John  had 
arrived  from  Amsterdam,  Mr.  Breck  visited  it  in  search 
of  men  and  women.  He  wrote: 

"  I  saw  the  remains  of  a  very  fine  cargo,  consisting 
of  healthy,  good-looking  men,  women  and  children,  and 
I  purchased  one  German  Swiss  for  Mrs.  Ross  and  two 
French  Swiss  for  myself.  ...  I  gave  for  the  woman 
seventy-six  dollars,  which  is  her  passage  money,  with 
a  promise  of  twenty  dollars  at  the  end  of  three  years, 
if  she  serves  me  faithfully,  clothing  and  maintenance 
of  course.  The  boy  had  paid  twenty-six  guilders  to 
wards  his  passage  money,  which  I  have  agreed  to  give 
him  at  the  end  of  three  years;  in  addition  to  which  I 
paid  fifty-three  dollars  and  sixty  cents  for  his  passage, 
and  for  two  years  he  is  to  have  six  weeks'  schooling 
each  year." 

It  was  like  Mr.  Breck  to  make  the  provision  for 
schooling.  He  was  an  ardent  friend  of  education  in 
an  age  when  too  many  were  indifferent.  In  1834,  when 
the  fortunes  of  a  proposal  for  free  schools  in  Pennsyl 
vania  were  in  doubt,  he  consented  to  become  a  member 
of  the  State  Senate.  There  he  bent  every  effort  to 
secure  the  passage  of  a  generous  provision  for  common 
schools.  On  the  first  day  of  the  session  he  moved  suc 
cessfully  for  the  appointment  of  a  Joint  Committee 
on  Education  of  the  two  Houses,  "  for  the  purpose  of 
digesting  a  general  system  of  education."  Of  this  com 
mittee  he  was  made  chairman. 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         187 

After  seven  weeks  of  unremitting  labor  the  bill  in 
corporating  the  committee's  report,  a  bill  drafted  by 
Mr.  Breck,  was  introduced.  In  six  weeks  more  it  be 
came  a  law,  four  votes  only  having  been  cast  against 
it.  Wickersham,  in  his  "  History  of  Education  in 
Pennsylvania,"  says  that  the  passage  of  the  bill  was 
"  the  most  important  event  connected  with  education 
in  Pennsylvania — the  first  great  victory  for  free 
schools." 

At  the  close  of  the  session  the  author  of  the  bill  re 
tired  to  Sweetbrier,  in  accordance  with  his  intention 
to  decline  any  further  public  honors.  He  felt  that  his 
work  for  the  State  and  the  Nation  was  done. 


XLI 

MILL  GROVE  AND  FATLANDS,  NEAR 
PHILADELPHIA 

THE  HOMES  OF  JOHN"  J.  AUDUBON  AND  OF  HIS  BRIDE, 
MARY  BAKEWELL 

About  two  hundred  years  ago,  there  lived  in  France 
a  poor  fisherman  named  Audubon,  who  had  nineteen 
daughters  and  two  sons.  One  of  the  sons  was  sent 
away  to  make  his  fortune  when  he  was  twelve  years 
of  age.  His  entire  patrimony  was  a  shirt,  a  suit  of 
clothes,  a  cane,  and  a  blessing.  For  five  years  he  was 
a  sailor  before  the  mast.  Then  he  bought  a  boat.  He 
prospered  and  bought  other  vessels.  After  many  years 
he  had  large  wealth,  and  was  trading  to  the  distant 
quarters  of  the  earth. 


188        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

When  lie  was  an  old  man  he  paid  a  visit  to  America. 
In  two  widely  separated  places,  attracted  by  the  coun 
try,  he  bought  land.  One  estate  was  on  Perkiomen 
Creek,  near  Philadelphia;  the  other  was  in  Louisiana. 
In  Louisiana  he  spent  much  of  his  time;  and  there,  on 
May  4,  1780,1  his  son,  John  James  Audubon,  was 
born. 

Commodore  Audubon  wanted  his  son  to  be  a  seaman, 
and  he  took  him  to  France  that  he  might  be  educated 
for  the  navy.  But  the  boy's  tastes  were  in  another 
direction  altogether.  One  of  the  teachers  provided  for 
him  was  an  artist,  who  gave  him  lessons  in  drawing 
that  were  intended  as  a  part  of  his  training  for  the 
profession  the  father  had  chosen  for  him.  But  the 
boy  put  it  to  a  use  of  his  own.  On  his  holidays  he 
used  to  take  a  lunch  into  the  country,  and  would  return 
loaded  down  with  all  kinds  of  natural  history  speci 
mens.  These  he  would  preserve  in  a  cabinet  of  his 
own  devising,  and  drawings  of  many  of  them  would 
be  made  and  treasured. 

Commodore  Audubon  was  not  pleased  with  his  son's 
habits,  and  he  thought  he  would  give  him  something 
to  do  that  would  distract  his  mind.  The  estate  in 
Pennsylvania  needed  a  superintendent.  So  he  sent  the 
would-be  naturalist  to  America,  with  instructions  to 
look  after  the  estate. 

But  the  wild  woods  about  Philadelphia  offered  so 
many  opportunities  for  tramping  and  nature  investiga 
tion  that  the  estate  was  neglected.  The  house  on  the 
estate,  Mill  Grove,  which  is  still  standing,  is  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Perkiomen.  Along  this  pleasing  stream 

i  This  date  and  place  were  generally  accepted  until  1917,  when 
Francis  Hobart  Herrick  published  proof  that  Audubon  was  born  in 
Santo  Domingo  in  1785. 


THE  CITY  OF  BEOTHEKLY  LOVE         189 

he  could  ramble  for  hours,  with  his  gun  or  his  fishing 
rod  or  his  collecting  instruments.  Before  long  the 
attic  room  which  he  occupied  was  a  treasure  house  of 
birds  and  animals  and  natural-history  specimens.  He 
was  his  own  taxidermist.  He  would  do  his  work  seated 
at  a  window  that  looks  toward  the  Valley  Forge  coun 
try,  where  Washington  spent  the  winter  of  1777-78 
with  his  faithful  soldiers.  The  marks  of  his  work  are 
still  to  be  seen  on  the  old  boards  beneath  the  window. 
These  boards  came  from  the  sawmill  on  the  estate  which 
gave  the  house  its  name. 

Here  in  this  attic  room  the  young  naturalist  dreamed 
of  making  careful,  accurate  drawings  of  all  the  birds 
of  America.  He  knew  that  this  would  be  a  difficult 
matter,  but  he  was  not  deterred  by  thought  of  hardship 
and  poverty. 

While  he  was  dreaming  of  what  he  would  do  for  the 
world,  something  was  happening  in  London  that  was 
to  have  an  effect  on  his  life.  An  official  named  Bake- 
well  refused  to  be  silent  about  a  matter  that  the  king 
felt  should  be  forgotten.  Bakewell  was  a  conscientious 
man,  and  he  did  not  feel  that  silence  would  be  proper. 
The  king  rebuked  him,  and  he  resigned  his  office.  At 
once  he  made  up  his  mind  to  leave  England  and  make 
a  home  in  America,  taking  with  him  his  wife  and 
daughter. 

After  many  investigations,  he  found  an  estate  near 
Philadelphia  that  pleased  him — Fatlands,  on  the 
Schuylkill,  near  the  Perkiomen,  so  named  because  every 
year  the  latter  stream  overflows  and  deposits  rich  sedi 
ment  on  the  surrounding  lands.  The  mansion  house 
at  Fatlands  was  built  in  1774,  and  there  Washington 
as  well  as  the  British  commander  had  been  entertained 


190        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

by  the  Quaker  owner  who  felt  that  he  could  not  show 
partiality.  Here  the  English  immigrant  made  his 
home. 

Of  course  Audubon  heard  of  the  coming  of  the 
strangers  to  the  house  across  the  road,  not  half  a  mile 
from  his  own  quarters.  But  he  did  not  go  to  call  on 
them.  He  was  French  and  they  were  English;  he  felt 
sure  they  would  be  undesirable  acquaintances,  and  that 
he  had  better  keep  to  the  woods  and  follow  his  own 
pursuits,  without  reference  to  others. 

Then  came  a  day  when  he  was  having  a  delightful 
stroll  through  the  woods.  He  was  carrying  specimens 
of  many  kinds.  A  stranger,  also  a  hunter,  encountered 
him  and  made  a  remark  about  his  burden  that  touched 
a  responsive  chord.  Soon  the  two  were  on  good  terms. 
"  You  must  come  and  see  me,"  the  stranger  said.  The 
invitation  was  accepted  with  alacrity.  Then  came  the 
question,  "  Where  do  you  live? "  To  his  surprise, 
Audubon  heard  that  this  pleasing  man  was  his  new 
neighbor  at  Fatlands. 

Deciding  that  an  Englishman  was  not  so  bad,  after 
all,  he  made  it  convenient  to  call  very  soon.  Then 
when  he  saw  Mary  Bakewell,  the  daughter  of  the  house, 
he  was  sure  he  liked  the  English.  She  showed  great 
sympathy  for  his  pursuits,  and  he  liked  to  talk 
with  her  about  them.  Before  long  she  decided  to 
help  him  in  his  great  life  work,  the  American  orni 
thology. 

The  marriage  was  postponed  because  of  the  death 
of  Mrs.  Bakewell,  who  pined  away,  homesick  for  her 
native  England.  But  the  time  came  when,  on  April  8, 
1808,  the  two  nature  lovers  became  husband  and  wife. 
Then  they  began  the  long  wanderings  in  the  West  and 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         191 

the  South,  the  fruit  of  which  was  what  has  been  called 
one  of  the  most  wonderful  ornithological  treatises  ever 
made,  Audubon's  "  Birds  of  America.'7 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Audubon  floated  down  the  Ohio  River, 
spent  a  season  in  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  had  narrow 
escapes  from  the  Indians,  and  finally  found  their  way 
to  Louisiana.  There  for  a  time  the  wife  supported 
herself  by  teaching  at  the  home  of  a  planter.  Friends 
and  acquaintances  thought  the  husband  was  a  madman 
to  continue  his  quest  of  birds  when  his  family  was  in 
straitened  circumstances.  But  Mrs.  Audubon  believed 
in  him,  urged  him  to  go  to  Europe  and  study  painting 
in  oils,  that  he  might  be  better  equipped  for  the 
preparation  of  his  bird  plates.  She  secured  a  good 
situation  as  teacher  at  Bayou  Sara,  and  was  soon 
enjoying  an  income  of  three  thousand  dollars  a 
year. 

Finally,  with  some  of  his  own  savings,  as  well  as 
some  of  his  wife's  funds,  he  went  to  England,  where 
he  was  well  received.  Plans  were  made  to  publish  the 
bird  plates,  with  descriptive  matter,  at  one  thousand 
dollars  per  set.  He  had  to  have  one  hundred  advance 
subscribers.  These  he  secured  by  personal  solici 
tation. 

At  last  the  work  was  issued.  Cuvier  called  it  "  the 
most  magnificent  work  that  art  ever  raised  to  orni 
thology." 

Many  years  later,  Audubon,  after  the  death  of  his 
wife,  returned  to  the  scenes  of  his  early  life  as  a  nat 
uralist.  "  Here  is  where  I  met  my  dear  Mary,"  he  said, 
with  glistening  eyes,  as  he  looked  into  one  of  the  rooms 
of  the  old  mansion. 

Mill  Grove  was  built  in  1762.    Five  years  after  Audu- 


192        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

boil's  marriage  the  estate  was  bought  by  Samuel  Weth- 
erill,  the  grandfather  of  the  present  owner,  W.  H. 
Wetherill. 

Fatlands,  which  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  old 
houses  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  was  built  in 
1774.  During  the  Revolution  it  was  occupied  by  a 
Quaker  named  Vaux,  who  entertained  many  officers  of 
both  armies.  It  is  related  that  one  day  General  Howe, 
the  British  commander,  was  entertained  at  breakfast, 
while  Washington  was  in  the  house  for  tea  the  same 
evening. 

The  house  was  rebuilt  in  1843,  on  the  old  foundations, 
according  to  the  original  plan. 


XLII 
WAYNESBOROUGH,  NEAR  PAOLI,  PENNSYLVANIA 

THE  HOME  OF  "MAD  ANTHONY"  WAYNE 

Captain  Isaac  Wayne,  who  commanded  a  company 
at  the  Battle  of  the  Boyne,  came  from  Ireland  to  Penn 
sylvania  in  1722.  Two  years  later  he  bought  sixteen 
acres  of  land  in  Chester  County  and  built  Waynes- 
borough. 

His  son  Isaac,  who  was  a  captain  in  the  French  and 
Indian  War,  enlarged  the  mansion  in  1765.  While  a 
wing  was  added  in  1812,  it  presents  much  the  same 
appearance  to-day  as  it  did  at  the  time  Anthony  Wayne 
left  it  to  go  to  war  with  General  Washington,  even  to 
the  crooked  hood  above  the  entrance  door.  The  pres 
ent  owner,  William  Wayne,  is  as  unwilling  as  were  his 
ancestors  to  have  this  hood  straightened. 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         193 

On  the  front  of  the  house  is  a  tablet  which  reads  : 

The  Home  of  General  Anthony  Wayne, 

Born  in  this  House,  January  1,  1745. 

Died  at  Erie,  Pennsylvania,  December  15,  1796. 

A  Leader  of  the  American  Revolution  in 

Pennsylvania  and  a  soldier  distinguished 

for  his 
Services  at  Brandywine,  Germantown, 

Valley  Forge, 

Monmouth,  Stony  Point,  and  Yorktown. 
Subdued  the  Indians  of  Ohio,  1794. 

Commander-in-Chief  of  the 

United  States  Army  1792-1796. 

Marked  by  the  Chester  County  Historical 

Society. 

To  this  record  the  statement  might  have  been  added 
that  General  Lafayette  visited  the  home  of  his  old  com 
mander  when  he  was  in  the  United  States  in  1824. 
Reverently  the  General  bowed  his  head  in  Wayne's 
favorite  sitting-room,  to  the  right  of  the  entrance  hall, 
where  nothing  had  been  disturbed  since  the  death  of 
the  patriot.  The  furnishings  and  ornaments  of  the 
room  are  the  same  to-day  as  then. 

Anthony  Wayne  was  a  delegate  to  several  of  the 
conventions  which  took  the  preliminary  steps  leading 
to  the  Revolutionary  War.  In  1775  he  was  a  member 
of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  and  in  the  same  year  he 
organized  a  regiment  of  "minute  men"  in  Chester 
County. 

His  first  active  service  was  as  colonel  with  troops 
sent  to  Canada  in  January,  1776,  and  from  November, 
1776,  to  April,  1777,  as  commander  of  twenty-five  hun 
dred  men  at  Ticonderoga.  "  It  was  my  business  to  pre 
vent  a  junction  of  the  enemy's  armies  and  ...  to  keep 


194        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

at  bay  their  whole  Canadian  force/'  he  wrote  in  a  pri 
vate  letter. 

Here,  in  the  midst  of  difficulties  with  soldiers  who 
wanted  to  desert,  he  heard  that  the  British  were  threat 
ening  Waynesborough.  But,  like  a  true  soldier,  he 
stuck  to  his  work,  and  urged  his  wife  to  be  brave. 
"  Should  you  be  necessitated  to  leave  East-town,  I  doubt 
not  but  you'll  meet  with  hospitality  in  the  back  parts 
of  the  Province,"  he  wrote  to  her. 

His  fidelity  and  resourcefulness  were  recognized  in 
February,  1777,  by  a  commission  as  brigadier  general. 
Washington,  who  was  then  in  New  Jersey,  wrote  to 
him  a  little  later,  saying  that  his  presence  with  him 
was  "  materially  needed,"  to  guard  the  country  between 
West  Point  and  Philadelphia.  And  when  the  British 
fleet  sailed  out  of  New  York  Harbor,  Washington  sent 
him  to  Chester,  to  organize  the  militia  of  Pennsylvania. 
A  few  weeks  later  he  was  in  charge  of  a  division  at 
Brandywine.  Historians  say  that  his  steadfastness  on 
the  left  prevented  the  advance  of  Knyphausen,  and 
saved  the  right  from  entire  destruction. 

Less  than  a  week  later,  within  a  mile  of  his  own 
house,  he  was  surprised  by  the  enemy  near  Paoli,  in 
consequence,  it  is  said,  of  the  act  of  an  inn-keeper  who 
betrayed  Wayne's  presence  to  the  British.  The  result 
was  the  only  defeat  of  his  brilliant  career.  Eighty  of 
his  men  were  killed.  The  engagement  has  been  called 
"  the  Paoli  Massacre,"  because  of  the  conduct  of  the 
victors.  Wayne  escaped.  A  squad  of  soldiers  searched 
for  him  at  Waynesborough.  When  they  could  not  find 
him  in  the  house,  they  thrust  their  bayonets  into  the 
great  boxwood  bush  that  is  still  to  be  seen  in  the  rear 
of  the  mansion. 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         195 

Because  some  said  that  the  General  was  responsible 
for  the  defeat,  he  demanded  a  court-martial.  The  court- 
martial  was  held  soon  after,  and  he  was  acquitted  with 
the  highest  honor,  and  was  declared  to  be  "  an  active, 
brave,  and  vigilant  officer." 

Washington's  letters  and  orderly  book  are  full  of 
references  to  Wayne.  He  was  a  trusted  commander, 
and  his  advice  was  followed  many  times.  He  it  was 
who  first  proposed  that  the  army  should  "  hut "  during 
the  winter  of  1776-77,  some  twenty  miles  from  Phila 
delphia.  He  was  always  eager  to  do  his  Commander's 
bidding.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  was  in  Philadel 
phia,  on  his  way  to  greet  his  family,  he  was  met  by  a 
fast  rider  who  handed  him  a  despatch  in  which  Wash 
ington  said,  "  I  request  that  you  join  the  army  as  soon 
as  you  can." 

During  his  long  absence  from  Waynesborough  his 
wife  Polly  and  his  children  were  continually  in  his 
thoughts.  Once  he  wrote: 

"  I  am  not  a  little  anxious  about  the  education  of 
our  girl  and  boy.  It  is  full  time  that  Peggy  should  be 
put  to  dancing  school.  How  does  she  improve  in  her 
writing  and  reading?  Does  Isaac  take  learning  freely? 
Has  he  become  fond  of  school?  " 

Just  before  the  storming  of  Stony  Point,  he  prepared 
for  death,  sending  to  a  friend  a  letter  which  was  not 
to  be  opened  until  the  author  was  dead.  The  letter 
said  : 

"  I  know  that  your  friendship  will  induce  you  to  at 
tend  to  the  education  of  my  little  son  and  daughter. 
I  fear  that  their  mother  will  not  survive  this  stroke. 
Do  go  to  her." 


196        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

On  the  way  up  the  mount  he  was  grievously  wounded 
and  fell  senseless.  Soon  he  roused  himself  and  cried, 
"  Lead  me  forward.  .  .  .  Let  me  die  in  the  fort."  Sev 
eral  hours  later  he  was  able  to  send  word  to  Washing 
ton,  "  The  fort  and  garrison  are  ours." 

In  this  spirit  he  served  through  the  war.  And  when 
the  action  was  won  he  continued  to  fight  for  his  coun 
try.  On  February  6,  1796,  ClaypooPs  Daily  American 
Advertiser  told  of  his  return  from  his  successful  cam 
paign  against  the  Indians  of  Ohio: 

"  Four  miles  from  the  city,  he  was  met  by  the  entire 
Troop  of  Philadelphia  Light  Horse,  and  escorted  by 
them  to  town.  On  his  crossing  the  Schuylkill,  a  salute 
of  fifteen  guns  was  fired  from  the  Centre-square,  by  a 
party  of  Artillery.  He  was  ushered  into  the  city  by 
the  ringing  of  bells  and  other  demonstrations  of  joy." 


XLIII 

THE  MORAVIAN  CHURCH,  BETHLEHEM, 
PENNSYLVANIA 

A  RELIGIOUS  COMMUNITY  WHOSE  FOUNDERS  WERE 
TRUE  PATRIOTS 

The  Unitas  Fratrum  or  Church  of  the  Brethren  arose 
in  the  fifteenth  century  in  Bohemia  and  Moravia.  In 
1727  intolerance  led  its  leaders  to  begin  to  plan  an 
emigration  to  America.  A  colony  was  sent  to  Pennsyl 
vania  in  1734,  while  a  second  colony  went  to  Georgia 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         197 

in  1735.  Late  in  the  year  1740  the  remnant  of  the 
emigrants  to  Georgia  joined  forces  with  the  Pennsyl 
vania  contingent,  and  settled  on  five  thousand  acres  of 
land  in  the  "  Forks  of  the  Delaware,"  as  the  locality 
just  within  the  confluence  of  the  Delaware  River  and 
the  Lehigh  or  "  West  Fork  of  the  Delaware  "  was  called. 
The  object  of  the  settlers  was  to  preach  to  the  Indians, 
and  they  began  at  once  to  win  the  confidence  of  the 
Delawares. 

The  first  house  was  built  in  1741.  This  was  twenty 
by  forty  feet,  one  story  high,  with  sleeping  quarters 
for  a  number  of  persons  in  the  attic  under  the  steep 
pitched  roof.  The  cattle  were  kept  in  a  portion  of 
the  house  partitioned  off  for  them.  The  common  room 
in  which  they  lived  was  also  the  place  of  worship  for 
more  than  a  year.  The  site  of  this  house  is  marked 
by  a  memorial  stone,  which  was  put  in  place  in 
1892. 

The  foundation  for  the  Gemeinhaus,  or  Community 
House,  was  laid  in  September.  For  many  years  this 
was  to  serve  as  home  and  hospice,  manse  and  church, 
administration  office,  academy,  dispensary,  and  town- 
hall.  As  "  The  House  on  the  Lehigh,"  it  became  known 
through  all  the  countryside. 

The  event  of  the  year  1741  was  the  coming  of  Count 
Zinzendorf.  The  Community  House  was  not  yet  fin 
ished,  but  two  rooms  in  the  second  story  were  hurriedly 
prepared  for  the  guest. 

No  name  had  yet  been  given  to  the  settlement,  but 
on  Christmas  Eve,  after  Zinzendorf  had  celebrated  the 
Holy  Communion  in  the  building,  the  only  fitting  name 
suggested  itself.  Bishop  Levering  of  the  Moravian 
Church  tells  the  story: 


198        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

"  This  humble  sanctuary,  with  beasts  of  the  stall 
sharing  its  roof,  brought  the  circumstances  of  the 
Saviour's  birth  vividly  before  their  imagination.  .  .  . 
Acting  upon  an  impulse,  the  Count  rose  and  led  the 
way  into  the  part  of  the  building  in  which  the  cattle 
were  kept,  while  he  began  to  sing  the  quaintly  pretty 
words  of  a  German  Epiphany  hymn  which  combined 
Christmas  thoughts  and  missionary  thoughts.  ...  Its 
language  expressed  w^ell  the  feeling  of  the  hour.  .  .  . 
The  little  town  of  Bethlehem  was  hailed,  its  boon  to 
mankind  was  lauded.  .  .  .  With  this  episode  a  thought 
came  to  one  and  another  which  gave  rise  to  a  perpetual 
memorial  of  the  occasion.  ...  By  general  consent  the 
name  of  the  ancient  town  of  David  was  adopted  and 
the  place  was  called  Bethlehem." 

The  chapel  of  the  Gemeinhaus  was  used  by  the  con 
gregation  for  nine  years.  During  this  period  many  of 
the  Indians  were  baptised  there.  In  1752  and  again 
in  1753  councils  were  held  here  with  the  representa 
tives  of  the  Nantieoke  and  Shawnee  Indians  from  the 
Wyoming  Valley. 

The  second  place  of  worship  was  an  extension  of  the 
Gemeinhaus,  completed  in  1751.  Here  congregations 
gathered  for  fifty-five  years.  Here  the  gospel  was 
preached  by  some  of  the  most  eminent  ministers  of 
colonial  days,  while  the  records  show  that  famous  vis 
itors  sat  in  the  pews.  Among  them  were  Governor 
John  Penn;  Generals  Washington,  Amherst,  Gage, 
Gates,  and  Lafayette;  John  Hancock,  Henry  Laurence, 
Samuel  and  John  Adams,  Richard  Henry  Lee,  and 
many  other  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress. 

During  the  Revolution  there  were  no  more  earnest 
patriots  than  the  members  of  the  Moravian  Community 
at  Bethlehem.  At  one  time  the  Single  Brethren's  House 


THE  CITY  OF  BROTHERLY  LOVE         199 

was  used  for  eight  months  as  a  hospital,  and  no  charge 
was  made,  though  in  1779  a  bill  for  repairs  was  sent 
which  amounted  to  $358. 

A  letter  from  David  Rittenhouse,  received  on  Sep 
tember  16,  1778,  caused  great  excitement,  for  he  told 
of  the  despatch  to  Bethlehem  of  all  the  military  stores 
of  Washington's  army,  carried  in  seven  hundred  wag 
ons.  This  was  done  because  Washington's  army  had 
been  compelled  to  fall  back  on  Philadelphia.  It  was 
also  thought  wise  to  send  the  bells  of  Christ  Church 
and  of  Independence  Hall  to  Allentown,  by  way  of 
Bethlehem.  The  wagon  on  which  Independence  Bell 
was  loaded  broke  down  on  descending  the  hill  in  front 
of  the  hospital,  and  had  to  be  unloaded  while  repairs 
were  being  made. 

The  most  distinguished  patient  cared  for  in  Bethle 
hem  was  the  Marquis  de  Lafayette,  who  was  brought 
from  Brandywine,  and  was  nursed  by  Sister  Liesel 
Deckel. 

Twenty  years  after  the  close  of  the  war  it  was  de 
cided  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  building  of  a 
permanent  church.  The  first  estimate  was  made  in 

1802.  At  that  time  it  was  thought  that  the  total  cost 
would  be  f  11,000.     "  It  is  interesting  to  note  how  very 
modern  they  were  in  underestimating  the  probable  cost 
of  a  church,'7  Bishop  Levering  says.     The  actual  cost, 
including  the  organ,  was  more  than  five  times  the  esti 
mate. 

The  excavation  for  the  building  was  made  in  March, 

1803,  by  volunteer  laborers,  to  whom  the  residents  of 
the  Sisters'  House  furnished  lunch.    The  work  was  com 
pleted  in  two  weeks.     Then  the  great  foundation  walls 
were  laid,  six  feet  thick. 


200        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

For  the  services  of  consecration,  held  from  May  18  to 
May  26,  1806,  six  thousand  people  gathered  in  the  vil 
lage  of  five  hundred  inhabitants.  On  the  first  day,  "  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning  the  jubilant  note  of  trom 
bones,  trumpets,  and  other  wind  instruments  from  the 
belfry  of  the  church  broke  the  stillness  of  the  awaking 
village  with  a  musical  announcement  of  the  festival 
day." 

The  Moravian  Community  at  Bethlehem  has  grown. 
But  those  who  worship  in  the  old  church  are  animated 
by  the  same  missionary  enthusiasm  that  characterized 
those  who  founded  the  institution  so  long  ago. 


FIVE:  OVER  THE  MASON  AND 
DIXON  LINE 


Afar,  through  the  mellow  hazes 
Where  the  dreams  of  June  are  stayed, 
The  hills,  in  their  vanishing  mazes, 
Carry  the  flush,  and  fade  ! 
Southward  they  fall,  and  reach 
To  the  bay  and  the  ocean  leach, 
Where  the  soft,  half-Syrian  air 
Blows  from  the  Chesapeake's 
Inlets,  coves,  and  creeks 
On  the  fields  of  Delaware! 
And  the  rosy  lakes  of  flowers, 
That  here  alone  are  ours, 
Spread  into  seas  that  pour 
Billow  and  spray  of  pink, 
Even  to  the  blue  wave's  brink, 
All  down  the  Eastern  Shore! 


BAYABD  TAYLOR. 


FIVE:  OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE 


XLIV 

HISTORIC  LANDMARKS  AT  NEW  CASTLE, 
DELAWARE 

THE  FIRST  LANDING  PLACE  OF  WILLIAM  PENN 

How  many  students  of  United  States  history  would 
be  able  to  answer  the  question,  "  What  town  has  had  at 
least  seven  different  names  and  has  been  under  the  flags 
of  four  different  countries?  " 

There  is  such  a  town,  and  but  one — New  Castle,  Dela 
ware.  The  Swedes  laid  it  out  in  1631,  and  called  it  New 
Stockholm.  In  1651  the  Dutch  built  a  fort  there,  and 
called  it  Fort  Kasimir.  Sandhoec  was  a  second  Dutch 
name.  When  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  ceded  it 
to  the  city  of  Amsterdam  it  was  named  New  Amstel. 
After  1675  the  English  took  a  hand  in  naming  the  vil 
lage.  Grape  Wine  Point,  Delaware  Town,  and,  at 
length,  New  Castle  were  the  last  names  assigned  to  the 
seaport  that,  within  a  generation,  boasted  twenty-five 
hundred  inhabitants. 

The  site  of  Fort  Kasimir  was  long  ago  covered  by  the 
Delaware.  A  quaint  house,  still  occupied,  is  the  only 
survival  from  the  Dutch  period.  But  it  would  be  dif 
ficult  to  find  a  town  of  four  thousand  inhabitants  which 
is  so  rich  in  buildings  and  traditions  that  go  back  to  the 
earliest  English  occupation. 

203 


204        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Many  of  the  buildings  and  traditions  centre  about  the 
old  Market  Square,  in  the  centre  of  the  town,  only  a 
few  hundred  feet  from  the  Delaware.  This  square  dates 
from  the  days  of  Petrus  Stuyvesant,  in  1658.  At  one 
end  of  the  square  is  the  old  stone-paved  courthouse, 
which  has  been  in  use  since  1672.  To  this  building 
William  Penn  was  welcomed,  as  a  tablet  on  the  outer 
wall  relates  : 

"  On  the  28th  Day  of  October,  1682,  William  Penn, 
the  Great  Proprietor,  on  His  First  Landing  in  America, 
Here  Proclaimed  His  Government  and  Received  from 
the  Commissioner  of  the  Duke  of  York  the  Key  of  the 
Fort,  the  Turf,  Twig,  and  Water,  as  Symbols  of  His 
Possession." 

From  the  steps  of  the  courthouse,  as  a  centre,  was 
surveyed  the  twelve-mile  circle  whose  arc  was  to  be 
the  northern  line  of  Delaware,  according  to  the  royal 
grant  made  to  Penn.  This  arc  forms  the  curious  circu 
lar  boundary,  unlike  any  other  boundary  in  the  United 
States. 

In  the  rear  of  the  courthouse,  though  still  on  the 
green  Market  Square,  is  old  Emmanuel  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church,  which  was  organized  in  1689,  though 
the  building  now  occupied  was  begun  in  1703.  This 
cruciform  structure  is  the  oldest  church  of  English 
building  on  the  Delaware,  and  services  have  been  held 
here  continuously  since  1706,  when  it  was  completed. 
Queen  Anne  gave  to  the  church  a  "  Pulpit  and  Altar 
Cloath,  with  a  Box  of  Glass."  A  memorial  tablet  on 
the  wall  tells  of  the  first  rector,  Rev.  George  Ross,  who 
came  as  a  missionary  from  England  in  1703,  and  served 
for  fifty  years.  His  son,  also  George  Ross,  was  one  of 


Photo  by  Ph.B.  Wallace 
DOORWAY  OF  RODNEY  HOUSE, 
NEW  CASTLE,  DEL. 


Photo  by  Ph.B.  Wallace 
DOORWAY  OF  STEWART  HOUSE, 
NEW  CASTLE,  DEL. 


Photo  by  Ph.B.  Wallace 
DOORWAY  OF  READ  HOUSE, 
NEW  CASTLE,  DEL. 

See  page  207 


Photo  by  Ph.  B.  Wallace 

DOORWAY  OF  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 
NEW  CASTLE,  DEL. 

See  page  205 


AMSTEL  HOUSE,   NEWCASTLE,  DEL 


Photo  by  Ph.  B.  Wallace 
See  page  20") 


Photo  bij  Ph.B. 

DOORWAY  OF  AMSTEL  HOUSE, 
NEWCASTLE,  DEL. 


See  page  205 


Photo  by  Ph.  B.  Wallace 
HALL  OF  READ  HOUSE, 
NEWCASTLE,  DEL. 

See  page  207 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    205 

the  Signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  His 
daughter  Gertrude  married  George  Read,  another  of  the 
Signers.  The  tomb  of  George  Bead  is  in  the  rear  of  the 
church. 

Across  the  street  from  the  Market  Square  is  the  Pres 
byterian  church,  whose  first  building,  erected  in  1707, 
is  still  in  use  as  a  part  of  its  ecclesiastical  plant.  The 
pastor  and  many  of  the  members  of  this  church  had  a 
prominent  part  in  the  War  of  the  Revolution. 

The  visitor  who  crosses  from  one  of  these  churches  to 
the  other  is  attracted  by  a  stone  pyramid,  on  the  edge  of 
the  Market  Square,  whose  story  is  told  by  a  tablet : 

"  These  stones  were  sleepers  in  the  New  Castle  and 
Frenchtown  Railroad,  completed  in  1831,  the  first  rail 
road  in  Delaware,  and  one  of  the  first  in  the  United 
States." 

The  fire  of  1824  which  burned  a  large  part  of  New 
Castle  destroyed  many  of  the  old  houses,  but  there  re 
main  enough  to  make  the  town  a  Mecca  for  those  who 
delight  in  studying  things  that  are  old.  Most  of  these 
houses  are  on  the  square,  or  are  within  a  short  distance 
of  it.  All  are  remarkable  for  the  beautiful  entrance 
doorways  and  wonderfully  carved  interior  woodwork. 
Artists  from  all  parts  of  the  country  turn  to  these 
houses  for  inspiration  in  their  work. 

The  Amstel  House,  the  home  of  Henry  Hanby  Hay, 
is  the  oldest  of  these ;  it  was  probably  built  about  1730. 
One  of  its  earliest  owners  was  Nicholas  Van  Dyke,  who 
was  a  major  of  militia  during  the  Revolution,  and  later 
served  six  years  in  the  Continental  Congress.  For  three 
years  he  was  Governor  of  Delaware.  During  his  resi 
dence  in  this  house  it  was  called  "  The  Corner."  So,  at 


206        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA1 

least,  it  was  referred  to  by  Kensey  Johns  in  a  love-letter 
to  comely  Anne  Van  Dyke,  written  during  the  cold 
winter  of  1784 : 

"  This  evening  I  visited  *  the  Corner.'  Soon  after  I 
went  in  Mrs.  V.  says,  '  Well,  Mr.  Johns,  what  say  you 
to  a  ride  below  with  me,  and  bringing  Miss  Nancy  up? ' 
After  an  hour  passed,  I  recovered  myself  and  answered 
in  the  negative,  that  my  business  would  not  permit  of 
it — Your  papa  discovered  by  his  countenance  the  lightest 
satisfaction  at  my  refusal;  this  approbation  of  his  af 
forded  me  great  pleasure.  The  more  I  regard  your 
happiness,  the  more  desirous  I  am  by  assiduity  and 
attention  to  business  to  establish  a  character  which  will 
give  me  consequence  and  importance  in  life.  I  wish  to 
see  you  more  than  words  express. 

"  Mrs.  B.  says  she  wants  you  to  come  up  very  much ; 
she  asked  me  to  use  my  influence  to  persuade  you.  All 
I  can  say  is,  that  if  your  Grand  Mama's  indisposition 
will  admit  of  it,  and  your  inclination  prompts  you  to 
come,  it  will  much  contribute  to  my  happiness,  even  if 
I  should  only  see  you  now  and  then  for  a  few  moments. 
My  fingers  are  so  cold  I  can  scarce  hold  my  pen,  there 
fore  adieu.  Be  assured  that  I  never  cease  to  be, 
"  Yours  most  affectionately, 

"  KENSEY  JOHNS." 

On  a  pane  of  glass  in  the  guest  chamber  of  the  old 
house  some  one  long  ago  scratched  with  a  diamond  a 
message  that  sounds  as  if  it  came  from  the  heart  of  the 
lover : 

"Around  her  head  ye  angels  constant  Vigil  keep, 
And  guard  fair  innocence  her  balmy  sleep." 

Three  months  after  Kensey  Johns  wrote  the  ardent 
letter  to  Anne  Van  Dyke,  the  day  after  the  wedding, 
April  30,  1784,  George  Washington  came  to  the  Corner, 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    207 

and  there  was  a  reception  in  his  honor  and  that  of 
the  bride  and  groom.  The  Father  of  his  Country 
received  the  guests  standing  before  an  old  fireplace 
whose  hearthstone  has  been  lettered  in  memory  of  the 
event. 

A  few  years  later  Kensey  Johns,  then  Chief  Justice 
of  Maryland,  built  near  by  a  beautiful  colonial  mansion 
where  he  entertained  many  of  the  leading  men  of  the 
nation. 

Kensey  Johns'  predecessor  as  Chief  Justice  was 
George  Eead,  the  Signer.  His  house,  an  old  record  says, 
stood  so  near  the  Delaware,  which  is  here  two  and  a  half 
miles  wide,  that  when  the  tide  was  high  one  wheel  of  a 
carriage  passing  in  the  street  in  front  of  it  was  in  the 
water,  and  in  violent  storms  the  waves  were  dashed 
against  the  building.  The  house  was  in  the  midst  of 
a  wonderfully  beautiful  garden.  This  garden  is  still 
one  of  the  sights  of  the  town,  though  the  house  was 
destroyed  in  the  fire  of  1824. 

George  Read,  the  Signer's  son,  in  1801,  built  a  house 
in  the  corner  of  the  garden,  which  was  saved  from  the 
fire  by  a  carpet  laid  on  the  roof  and  kept  thoroughly  wet 
until  the  danger  was  past.  This  Georgian  house  is  a 
marvel  of  beauty,  both  inside  and  out.  The  hand-carved 
moldings,  mantels,  and  arches  bring  to  the  house  visi 
tors  from  far  and  near.  Miss  Hatty  Smith,  the  present 
owner,  delights  to  show  the  place  to  all  who  are  inter 
ested. 

In  the  early  days  New  Castle  was  on  the  King's  Road 
from  Philadelphia  to  Baltimore.  Washington  passed 
this  way  when  on  his  journeys.  Lafayette  visited  the 
town  in  1824.  The  house  built  by  Nicholas  Van  Dyke, 
son  of  the  owner  of  the  Corner,  received  him  for  the 


208        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

marriage  of  Charles  I.  Du  Pont  and  Dorcas  M.  Van 
Dyke.  It  is  recorded  that  on  this  occasion  he  gave  the 
bride  away. 

Caesar  Rodney,  too,  passed  through  the  town  fre 
quently,  notably  when  he  made  the  famous  ride  in  July, 
1776,  that  helped  to  save  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence;  here  he  rested  after  the  first  stage  of  his  historic 
journey. 

The  name  of  George  Thomson,  secretary  of  Congress 
during  the  Revolution,  is  also  enrolled  in  the  list  of  the 
worthies  who  visited  the  town.  In  1740  his  father,  when 
on  his  way  from  Ireland  to  America  with  his  three 
sons,  died  on  shipboard.  The  captain  appropriated  the 
meagre  possessions  of  the  family  and  set  the  boys  ashore 
at  New  Castle,  penniless.  George  was  sheltered  by  a 
butcher  who  was  so  delighted  with  him  that  he  decided 
to  bring  him  up  to  the  trade.  George  was  terrified 
when  he  overheard  the  man's  plan;  he  did  not  intend 
to  be  a  butcher.  So  he  stole  out  of  the  town  between 
dark  and  daylight  and  made  his  way  to  surroundings 
where  the  way  was  opened  that  led  him  to  usefulness 
and  fame. 


XLV 

THE  RIDGELY  HOUSE,  DOVER,  DELAWARE 
A  BOYHOOD  HAUNT  OF  C^SAR  RODNEY,  THE  SIGNER 

On  the  Green  in  Dover,  Delaware,  is  one  of  the  most 
striking  houses  of  the  quaint  old  town — the  Ridgely 
house.  The  date  of  its  erection  is  not  certain,  but  it 
is  an  interesting  fact  that  on  one  of  the  bricks  is  the 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    209 

date  1728.  Originally  there  were  but  two  rooms  in  the 
house;  subsequent  enlargements  have  been  so  harmoni 
ous  that  one  who  sees  the  place  from  the  Green  must 
pause  to  admire.  Admiration  turns  to  delight  when  the 
interior  of  the  house  is  examined.  The  old-fashioned 
garden  at  the  rear  intensifies  delight. 

Dr.  Charles  Greenburg  Ridgely  became  owner  of  the 
property  in  1769.  The  house  was  a  gift  from  his  father, 
Nicholas  Ridgely.  The  second  of  the  wives  who  lived 
here  with  Dr.  Ridgely  was  Ann,  the  daughter  of  Squire 
William  Moore  of  Moore  Hall,  near  Valley  Forge,  Penn 
sylvania,  whose  determined  advocacy  of  armed  prepara 
tion  for  defence  against  a  threatened  Indian  attack  once 
aroused  the  indignation  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly, 
most  of  whose  members  were  Friends. 

The  Ridgely  house  was  famous  throughout  Delaware 
as  the  resort  of  patriots.  Dr.  Ridgely  was  six  times  a 
member  of  the  Provincial  Assembly,  and  was  also  an 
active  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of 
Delaware  in  1776. 

During  the  days  when  patriotic  feelings  were  begin 
ning  to  run  high,  Caesar  Rodney,  the  ward  of  Dr. 
Ridgely's  father,  was  often  an  inmate  of  the  Ridgely 
house.  Caesar  was  born  near  Dover  in  1728.  At  Dover 
he  received  most  of  his  education.  Some  twenty  years 
after  the  little  town  saw  so  much  of  him  he  became 
famous  because  of  his  vital  service  to  the  Colonies,  as  a 
member  of  the  Continental  Congress  in  Philadelphia. 
"  He  was  the  most  active,  and  was  by  odds  the  leading 
man  in  the  State  in  espousing  the  American  cause," 
Henry  C.  Conrad  once  said  to  the  Sons  of  Delaware.  In 
the  course  of  his  address  Mr.  Conrad  told  the  thrilling 
story  of  Caesar  Rodney's  most  spectacular  service. 


210        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA' 

On  July  1,  1776,  when  the  vote  was  taken  in  the 
Committee  of  the  Whole  of  the  Continental  Congress 
as  to  the  framing  and  proclaiming  of  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  ten  of  the  thirteen  Colonies  voted  yes. 
"  Pennsylvania  had  seven  delegates,  four  of  whom  were 
opposed  to  it,  and  three  in  favor  of  it.  Delaware  had 
two  members  present,  McKean  and  Read.  Rodney  was 
absent.  McKean  was  in  favor  of,  and  Read  against 
the  Declaration.  McKean,  appreciating  that  it  was 
most  important,  for  the  sentiment  it  wrould  create,  that 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  should  be  proclaimed 
by  the  unanimous  vote  of  the  thirteen  Colonies,  sent  for 
Rodney,  who  was  at  that  time  at  one  of  his  farms  near 
Dover.  Rodney  came  post-haste,  and  he  arrived  just  in 
time  to  save  the  day,  and  cast  the  vote  of  Delaware  in 
favor  of  the  Declaration. 

McKean,  writing  of  the  event  years  afterward  to 
Csesar  A.  Rodney,  a  nephewr  of  Caesar  Rodney,  said : 

"  I  sent  an  express,  at  my  own  private  expense,  for 
your  honored  uncle,  the  remaining  member  from  Dela 
ware,  whom  I  met  at  the  State  House  door,  in  his  boots 
and  spurs,  as  the  members  were  assembling.  After  a 
friendly  salutation,  without  a  word  in  the  business,  we 
went  into  the  hall  of  Congress  together,  and  found  we 
were  among  the  latest.  Proceedings  immediately  com 
menced,  and  after  a  few  minutes  the  great  question  was 
put.  When  the  vote  of  Delaware  was  called,  your  uncle 
arose  and  said :  *  As  I  believe  the  voice  of  my  con 
stituents  and  of  all  sensible  and  honest  men  is  in  favor 
of  independence,  and  my  own  judgment  coincides  with 
theirs,  I  vote  for  independence.' " 

Since  Pennsylvania  also  voted  in  favor  of  the  Dec 
laration,  it  was  adopted  unanimously. 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    211 

Caesar  Rodney  was  Governor  of  Delaware  from  1778 
to  1781.  On  April  8,  1784,  the  State  Council,  of  which 
he  was  presiding  officer,  met  at  his  house  near  Dover, 
because  he  was  too  ill  to  go  to  Dover.  Less  than  three 
months  later  he  died. 

A  monument  marks  his  last  resting-place  in  Christ 
Episcopal  churchyard  in  Dover. 


XL  VI 

REHOBOTH  CHURCH  ON  THE  POCOMOKE, 
MARYLAND 

THE  FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH  IN  AMERICA 

The  Pocomoke  River  rises  in  southern  Delaware, 
forms  a  part  of  the  eastern  boundary  of  Somerset 
County,  Maryland,  and  empties  into  Pocomoke  Sound, 
an  inlet  of  Chesapeake  Bay.  On  the  banks  of  this 
stream,  not  far  from  the  mouth,  Colonel  William 
Stevens,  a  native  of  Buckinghamshire,  England,  located 
in  1665,  taking  out  a  patent  on  what  he  called  the  Reho- 
both  plantation,  the  name  being  chosen  from  Genesis 
26 :22.  "  And  he  called  the  name  of  it  Rehoboth.  And 
he  said,  For  now  the  Lord  hath  made  room  for  us,  and 
we  shall  be  fruitful  in  this  land."  When  Somerset 
County  was  organized  he  was  made  Judge  of  the  County 
Court.  He  also  became  a  member  of  "  His  Lordship's 
Councill,"  and  was  one  of  the  Deputy  Lieutenants  of 
the  Province. 

&s  the  years  passed  many  followed  Colonel  Stevens 


212        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

to  Somerset  County,  in  search  of  religious  freedom. 
Scotch,  Scotch-Irish,  French,  and  Quakers  were  repre 
sented  in  the  village  that  was  known  at  first  as  Poco- 
inoke  Town,  though  later  it  was  called  Rehoboth.  Many 
of  these  settlers  were  Presbyterians,  who  had  lost  their 
property  through  persecution. 

In  1672  the  Grand  Jury,  encouraged  by  Judge 
Stevens,  asked  Rev.  Robert  Maddux  to  preach  at  four 
points  in  the  county.  One  of  these  points  was  the  plan 
tation  house  at  Rehoboth.  The  next  year  George  Fox, 
the  Quaker,  was  in  the  community.  He  also  preached 
in  his  famous  "  leather  breeches  "  at  Colonel  Stevens' 
plantation,  to  a  great  congregation  of  several  thousand 
whites  and  Indians.  A  Quaker  monthly  meeting  fol 
lowed. 

The  number  of  Presbyterians  increased  to  such  an 
extent  that  in  1680  Colonel  Stevens  asked  the  Presby 
tery  of  Laggan  in  Ireland  for  a  godly  minister  to  gather 
the  band  of  exiles  into  a  church.  Francis  Makemie  was 
sent  as  a  result.  Soon  Rehoboth  Church  was  organized 
by  him,  as  well  as  a  number  of  other  churches  in  the 
neighborhood.  The  exact  date  of  the  beginning  of 
Rehoboth  Church  is  uncertain,  but  it  is  probable  that 
the  first  building  was  erected  about  1683. 

For  some  years  Makemie  travelled  from  place  to 
place,  preaching  and  organizing  churches  as  he  went, 
but  from  1699  to  1708,  except  in  1704  and  1705,  when 
he  visited  Europe,  he  lived  in  the  neighborhood  and 
preached  at  Rehoboth  whenever  he  was  at  home. 

When  it  became  necessary  to  erect  a  new  church  build 
ing,  he  decided  to  have  this  on  his  own  land,  because  of 
Maryland's  intolerant  laws.  This  building,  which  is 
still  in  use,  dates  from  1706,  the  year  when  its  builder 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    213 

assisted  in  organizing  the  first  Presbytery  of  the  Pres 
byterian  Church  at  Philadelphia. 

Makemie's  name  will  ever  be  connected  with  the 
struggle  for  religious  liberty.  He  had  a  certificate  from 
the  court  that  permitted  him  to  preach  in  the  Province 
of  Maryland,  but  he  had  many  trying  experiences  in 
spite  of  this  fact.  His  congregation  groaned  under  the 
necessity  of  paying  taxes  to  support  the  rectors  of  three 
neighboring  parishes. 

The  greatest  trial  was  not  in  Maryland,  but  in  New 
York,  where  he  spent  a  portion  of  1706  and  1707.  His 
experiences  there  should  be  familiar  to  all  who  are  inter 
ested  in  the  struggle  for  religious  liberty  in  America. 

The  story  is  told  in  a  curious  document  written  by 
Makemie  himself,  which  was  printed  in  New  York  in 
1707,  under  the  title  "  A  Particular  Narrative  of  the 
Imprisonment  of  two  Non-Conformist  Ministers;  and 
Prosecution  &  Tryal  of  one  of  them,  for  Preaching  one 
Sermon  in  the  city  of  New- York.  By  a  Learner  of  Law 
and  Lover  of  Liberty." 

The  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  the  "  criminal "  was 
addressed  to  Thomas  Cordale,  Esqr.,  High-Sheriff  of 
Queens  County  on  Long-Island,  or  his  Deputy,  and  was 
signed  by  Lord  Cornbury.  It  read : 

"  Whereas  I  am  informed,  that  one  Mackennan,  and 
one  Hampton,  two  Presbyterian  Preachers,  who  lately 
came  to  this  City,  have  taken  upon  them  to  Preach  in  a 
Private  House,  without  having  obtained  My  Licence  for 
so  doing,  which  is  directly  contrary  to  the  known  Laws 
of  England,  and  being  likewise  informed,  that  they  are 
gone  into  Long-Island,  with  intent  there  to  spread  their 
Pernicious  Doctrines  and  Principles,  to  the  great  dis 
turbance  of  the  Order  by  Law  established  by  the  Gov 
ernment  of  this  province.  You  are  therefore  hereby 


214        HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Required  and  Commanded,  to  take  into  your  Custody 
the  Bodies  of  the  said  Mackennan  and  Hampton,  and 
then  to  bring  them  with  all  convenient  speed  before  me, 
at  Fort- Anne,  in  New- York." 

When  brought  before  Lord  Cornbury,  Makemie  said: 
"  We  have  Liberty  from  an  Act  of  Parliament,  made  the 
first  year  of  the  Reign  of  King  William  and  Queen  Mary, 
which  gave  us  Liberty,  with  which  Law  we  have  com 
plied." 

But  Lord  Cornbury  replied :  "  No  one  shall  Preach  in 
my  Government  without  my  Licence.  .  .  .  That  Law 
does  not  extend  to  the  American  Plantations,  but  only 
to  England.  ...  I  know,  for  I  was  at  Making  there 
of.  ...  That  Act  of  Parliament  was  made  against 
Strowling  Preachers,  and  you  are  such,  and  shall  not 
Preach  in  my  Government." 

Makemie  again  challenged  Lord  Cornbury  to  show 
"  any  Pernicious  Doctrine  in  the  Confession  of  Faith 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church."  Later  he  refused  to  give 
"  Bail  and  Security  to  Preach  no  more." 

"  Then  you  must  go  to  Gaol,"  his  Lordship  said. 

On  January  23  another  warrant  was  given  to  the 
High  Sheriff  of  New  York.  He  was  told  "  to  safely 
keep  till  further  orders "  the  prisoners  committed  to 
him. 

From  the  prison  Makemie  sent  a  petition  asking  to 
know  the  charge,  and  demanding  a  speedy  trial.  Later 
the  prisoner  was  released  on  habeas  corpus  proceedings. 

At  the  trial,  where  Makemie  conducted  his  own  de 
fence,  he  read  Chapter  23  of  the  Westminster  Confession 
of  Faith,  as  a  complete  reply  to  the  charge  that  he  be 
lieved  what  incited  the  people  to  disregard  the  authority 
of  the  king. 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    215 

The  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  "not  guilty,"  but 
Makemie  was  obliged  to  pay  the  costs,  including  the 
fees  of  the  Court  Prosecutor,  which  amounted  to  twelve 
pounds.  The  total  cost  of  the  trial,  including  the  ex 
pense  of  a  trip  from  his  home  in  Maryland,  made  neces 
sary  by  a  recess  in  the  trial,  was  more  than  eighty 
pounds. 

A  few  months  later  Makemie  died.  It  was  felt  by 
those  who  knew  him  that  the  trying  experiences  at  New 
York  hastened  his  end. 

He  had  not  lived  in  vain.  His  struggles  for  religious 
liberty  were  to  bear  rich  fruit  before  many  years. 

Henry  van  Dyke  wrote  a  sonnet  to  the  memory  of 
Francis  Makemie,  which  was  read  on  May  14,  1908, 
when  the  monument  to  the  memory  of  the  pioneer  was 
unveiled : 

"To  thee,  plain  hero  of  a  rugged  race, 

We  bring  a  meed  of  praise  too  long  delayed ! 
Thy  fearless  word  and  faithful  work  have  made 
Of  God's  Republic  a  firmer  resting-place 
In  this  New  World:  for  thou  hast  preached  the  grace 
And  power  of  Christ  in  many  a  forest  glade, 
Teaching  the  truth  that  leaves  men  unafraid 
Of  frowning  tyranny  or  death's  dark  face. 

"  Oh,  who  can  tell  how  much  we  owe  to  thee, 
Makemie,  and  to  labor  such  as  thine, 
For  all  that  makes  America  the  shrine 
Of  faith  untrammelled  and  of  conscience  free? 
Stand  here,  grey  stone,  and  consecrate  the  sod 
Where  rests  this  brave  Scotch-Irish  man  of  God." 


216        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 


XLVII 

DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR,  NEAR  ELLICOTT  CITY, 
MARYLAND 

WHOSE  OWNER  WAS  THE  LAST  SURVIVING  SIGNER  OF  THE 
DECLARATION  OF  INDEPENDENCE 

It  is  true  that  when  Charles  Carroll  was  about  to 
sign  his  name  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence  he 
added  the  words,  "  of  Carrollton,"  but  the  story  that  he 
added  the  words  there  that  he  might  be  distinguished 
from  a  second  Charles  Carroll  is  an  error;  he  had  been 
writing  his  name  thus  since  1765.  It  would  have  been 
just  as  true  a  description  if  he  had  used  the  name  of 
another  of  the  numerous  Carroll  estates,  Doughoregan 
Manor,  but  the  designation  he  chose  was  simpler.  At 
any  rate  he  could  not  spell  it  in  so  many  ways  as  the 
name  of  the  family  estate  where  he  lived  and  died.  Let 
ters  written  by  him  at  different  periods  show  such  di 
verse  spellings  as  "  Doeheragen,"  "  Doohoragen,"  "  Doo- 
heragon,"  and  "  Dougheragen,"  before  he  settled  down 
to  "  Doughoregan." 

Doughoregan  Manor,  which  was  named  for  one  of 
the  O'Carroll  estates  in  Ireland,  is  one  of  the  most  an 
cient  family  seats  in  Maryland.  In  1688  Charles  Car 
roll,  I,  came  over  from  England.  He  became  a  large 
landed  proprietor,  in  part  as  a  result  of  his  appeal  to 
the  king  of  England  for  a  part  in  the  estate  of  the 
O'Carrolls  of  King's  County,  Ireland.  The  king  satis 
fied  the  claim  by  offering  him  60,000  acres  of  land  in 
the  Colonies.  His  heir  was  Charles  Carroll,  II,  who 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    217 

was  born  in  1702.  Fifteen  years  later  Doughoregan 
Manor  was  built,  and  twenty-seven  years  later  Charles 
Carroll,  II,  and  his  brother  Daniel  sold  sixty  acres  of 
land  which  became  the  site  of  old  Baltimore. 

Charles  Carroll,  II,  divided  his  time  between  Dougho 
regan  Manor  and  the  Carroll  Mansion  in  Annapolis,  his 
town  house.  Here  was  born,  in  1737,  Charles  Carroll, 
III,  the  Signer.  Most  of  the  education  of  this  heir  to 
the  vast  estate  of  Charles  Carroll,  II,  was  secured  in 
France.  He  was  in  Paris  when  his  father  wrote  to  him, 
in  1764,  telling  him  of  the  large  property  that  was  to 
come  to  him.  After  speaking  of  this  in  detail,  he  con 
cluded  : 

"  On  my  death  I  am  willing  to  add  my  Manor  of 
Doughoregan,  10,000  acres,  and  also  1,425  Acres  called 
Chance  adjacent  thereto,  on  the  bulk  of  which  my  ne 
groes  are  settled.  As  you  are  my  only  child,  you  will, 
of  course,  have  all  the  residue  of  my  estate  at  my  death." 

When  the  estate  of  his  father  finally  came  into  his 
hands,  Charles  Carroll,  III,  was  the  richest  man  in 
Maryland.  That  he  knew  how  to  handle  such  a  large 
property  he  showed  by  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to  his 
son,  Charles  Carroll,  IV,  on  July  10, 1801 : 

"  He  who  postpones  till  to-morrow  what  can  and 
ought  to  be  done  to-day,  will  never  thrive  in  this  world. 
It  was  not  by  procrastination  this  estate  was  acquired, 
but  by  activity,  thought,  perseverance,  and  economy,  and 
by  the  same  means  it  must  be  preserved  and  prevented 
from  melting  away." 

But  while  the  owner  of  Doughoregan  Manor  was  care 
ful,  he  was  not  penurious.  He  kept  open  house  to  his 
numerous  friends,  of  whom  George  Washington  was  one. 


218        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

In  one  of  the  rooms  of  the  Manor  Washington  sat  to 
Gilbert  Stuart  for  his  portrait. 

Both  Mr.  Carroll's  property  and  his  services  were  at 
his  country's  call.  From  the  days  of  the  Stamp  Act  to 
the  close  of  the  Revolution  there  was  no  more  ardent 
patriot  than  he.  He  served  as  a  member  of  the  Conti 
nental  Congress,  was  for  three  months  with  Washington 
at  Valley  Forge,  by  appointment  of  Congress,  was  later 
United  States  Senator,  and  was  a  leader  in  business  as 
well  as  in  political  affairs.  With  Washington  he  was 
a  member  from  the  beginning  of  the  Potomac  Canal 
Company,  which  later  was  merged  into  the  Chesapeake 
and  Ohio  Canal  Company. 

After  the  Revolution  he  spent  most  of  his  time  at 
Doughoregan  Manor,  where  he  completed  the  remark 
able  three-hundred-foot  fagade  by  the  addition  of  the 
chapel  which  has  been  used  by  the  family  for  more  than 
a  century. 

One  by  one  the  sons  and  daughters  went  out  from 
the  house,  carrying  the  Carroll  name  or  the  Carroll 
training  into  many  sections  of  Maryland  and  Virginia. 
Perhaps  the  most  interesting  marriage  was  that  of 
Charles  Carroll,  IV,  who  was  mentioned  by  Washing 
ton  in  his  diary  for  1798 : 

"  March  27— Mr.  Charles  Carroll,  Jr.  ...  came  to 
dinner. 

"  March  28 — Mr.  Carroll  went  away  after  breakfast." 

William  Spohn  Baker,  in  "Washington  after  the 
Revolution,"  after  quoting  these  extracts  from  the 
diary,  says : 

"  The  visit  of  young  Mr.  Carroll  having  given  rise  at 
Annapolis  to  a  rumor  that  it  was  made  with  the  inten- 


RIDGELY  HOUSE,  DOVER,  DEL. 


Photo  by  R.  C.  Holmes 
See  page  208 


DOUGHOREGAN  MANOR,  NEAR  ELUCOTT  CITY,  MD. 


Photo  by  James  F.  Hughes  Company,  Baltimore 
See  page  216 


Photo  by  Ph.  B.  Wallace 


IMMANUEL  CHURCH,   NEWCASTLE,  DEL. 


See  page  204 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    219 

tion  of  paying  his  addresses  to  Nelly  Custis,  her  brother 
wrote  to  the  General  in  allusion  to  it,  saying,  £  I  think 
it  a  most  desirable"  match,  and  wish  that  it  may  take 
place  with  all  my  heart.'  In  reply,  under  date  of  April 
15,  Washington  wrote,  '  Young  Mr.  Carroll  came  here 
about  a  fortnight  ago  to  dinner,  and  left  on  next  morn 
ing  after  breakfast.  If  his  object  was  such  as  you  say 
has  been  reported,  it  was  not  declared  here;  and  there 
fore,  the  less  is  said  upon  the  subject,  particularly  by 
your  sister's  friends,  the  more  prudent  it  will  be,  until 
the  subject  develops  itself  more.' 

"  But  youthful  alliances  are  not  always  made  at  the 
nod  of  Dame  Kumor,  nor  are  they  always  controlled  by 
the  wishes  of  relatives.  Nelly  Custis  married,  Febru 
ary  22,  1799,  at  Mount  Vernon,  Laurence  Lewis,  a 
nephew  of  Washington;  and  Charles  Carroll,  Junior, 
found,  in  the  following  year,  a  bride  at  Philadelphia, 
Harriet,  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  Chew  "  [of  Cliveden]. 

A  delightful  picture  of  life  at  the  Manor  was  given 
by  Adam  Hodgson,  an  English  visitor,  who  wrote  from 
Baltimore  on  July  13,  1820 : 

"  I  have  lately  been  paying  some  very  agreeable  visits 
at  the  country  seats  of  some  of  my  acquaintances  in 
the  neighborhood.  .  .  .  The  other  morning  I  set  out, 
at  four  o'clock,  with  General  H,  on  a  visit  to  a  most 
agreeable  family,  who  reside  at  a  large  Manor,  about 
seventeen  miles  distant.  We  arrived  about  seven 
o'clock,  and  the  family  soon  afterward  assembled  to 
breakfast.  It  consisted  of  several  friends  from  France, 
Canada,  and  Washington,  and  the  children  and  grand 
children  of  my  host,  a  venerable  patriarch,  nearly  eighty- 
five  (83)  years  of  age,  and  one  of  the  four  survivors 
of  those  who  signed  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 
.  .  .  After  breakfasting  the  following  morning,  the 
ladies  played  for  us  on  the  harp;  and  in  the  evening,  I 
set  out  on  horseback,  to  return  hither,  not  without  a 
feeling  of  regret,  that  I  had  probably  taken  a  final  leave 


220        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

of  my  hospitable  friend,  who,  although  still  an  ex 
pert  horseman,  seldom  goes  beyond  the  limits  of  his 
manor.  ..." 

The  other  three  surviving  Signers  died  first,  so  that 
when  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton  followed  on  No 
vember  14,  1832,  the  last  Signer  was  gone.  Among  his 
last  words  were  these  : 

"  I  have  lived  to  my  ninety-sixth  year ;  I  have  enjoyed 
continued  health,  I  have  been  blessed  with  great  wealth, 
prosperity,  and  most  of  the  good  things  which  this  world 
can  bestow — public  approbation,  esteem,  applause;  but 
what  I  now  look  back  on  with  the  greatest  satisfaction 
to  myself  is,  that  I  have  practiced  the  duties  of  my 
religion." 

He  was  buried  under  the  pavement  of  the  chapel  at 
the  Manor. 

The  present  occupants  of  Doughoregan  are  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Charles  Carroll,  who  followed  Governor  John  Lee 
Carroll,  after  his  death  in  1911. 


XL  VIII 

THE  UPTON  SCOTT  HOUSE,  ANNAPOLIS, 
MARYLAND 

WHERE,  AS  A  BOY,  THE  AUTHOR  OF  "THE  STAR-SPANGLED 
BANNER"  WAS  A  FREQUENT  VISITOR 

When  Colonel  James  Wolfe  was  campaigning  in  Scot 
land  in  1748  to  1753,  one  of  the  surgeons  in  his  command 
was  Upton  Scott,  a  young  Irishman  from  County  An 
trim.  At  that  time  began  a  friendship  between  the  two 
men  that  continued  through  life. 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    221 

Another  friend  made  at  this  time  by  the  young  sur 
geon  was  Horatio  Sharpe.  In  1753,  when  Sharpe 
planned  to  go  to  America,  Dr.  Scott  decided  to  go  with 
him,  though  it  was  not  easy  to  think  of  resigning  his 
commission,  for  this  would  mean  the  severance  of  pleas 
ant  relations  with  his  colonel.  When  Wolfe  said  good 
bye  to  his  comrade  he  gave  him  a  pair  of  pistols  as  a 
remembrance.  These  are  still  treasured  by  descendants 
of  the  surgeon. 

From  1754  to  1769  Horatio  Sharpe  was  Proprietary 
Governor  of  Maryland,  and  Dr.  Scott  was  his  companion 
and  physician.  The  young  surgeon  was  popular  among 
the  young  people  whom  he  met  at  Annapolis,  the 
colonial  capital. 

In  1760,  when  he  persuaded  Elizabeth  Ross,  the 
daughter  of  John  Ross,  the  Register  of  the  Land  Office 
of  Maryland,  to  become  his  bride,  he  built  for  her  the 
stately  house  in  Annapolis,  Maryland,  which  is  now 
occupied  by  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame.  The  new  house, 
with  its  charming  doorway  and  wonderful  hall  carvings, 
was  well  worth  the  attention  even  of  one  who  had  spent 
her  girlhood  at  Belvoir,  a  quaint  mansion  of  great 
beauty,  six  miles  from  Annapolis. 

Governor  Sharpe  was  a  welcome  visitor  at  the  Scott 
house  until  the  time  of  his  death  in  1789,  when  he  ap 
pointed  his  friend,  the  owner,  one  of  his  executors. 
Governor  Robert  Eden,  the  last  of  the  Proprietary  Gov 
ernors,  who  served  from  1769  to  1774,  was  at  times 
almost  a  member  of  the  Scott  household. 

Governor  Eden  was  looked  upon  with  favor  by  the 
patriots  in  Maryland  because  he  was  always  moderate 
and  advised  the  repeal  of  the  tax  on  tea.  In  1776  he 
went  to  England,  but  in  1784  he  returned  to  Maryland 


222       HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

to  look  after  the  estate  of  Mrs.  Eden,  who  was  Caroline 
Calvert,  sister  of  Lord  Baltimore;  by  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  of  1783  he  was  entitled  to  this  property.  While 
in  Annapolis  he  was  the  guest  of  Dr.  Scott.  There,  in 
the  room  now  used  by  the  Sisters  of  Notre  Dame  as  a 
chapel,  he  died. 

But  probably  the  most  famous  visitor  to  the  Scott 
mansion  was  Francis  Scott  Key,  who  was  the  grandson 
of  Mrs.  Scott's  sister,  Ann  Arnold  Ross  Key  of  Belvoir. 
When  he  was  a  boy  he  was  often  in  Annapolis.  His 
college  training  was  received  at  St.  John's  in  the  old 
town,  and  in  later  life  he  frequently  turned  his  steps 
to  the  house  of  his  great-aunt  and  listened  to  the  stories 
of  Dr.  Scott  that  helped  to  train  him  in  the  patriotism 
that  was  responsible,  a  few  years  later,  for  the  composi 
tion  of  the  "  Star-Spangled  Banner." 

Many  garbled  stories  have  been  told  of  the  circum 
stances  that  led  to  the  writing  of  this  song  that  has 
stirred  the  hearts  of  millions.  The  true  story,  and  in 
many  respects  the  simplest,  was  told  by  Key  himself  to 
his  brother-in-law,  R.  R.  Taney,  who  was  later  Chief 
Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  In  1865,  when  the 
"  Poems  of  the  Late  Francis  Scott  Key,  Esq.,  "  were  pub 
lished,  the  volume  contained  the  story  as  related  by 
Judge  Taney. 

In  1814,  the  main  body  of  the  British  invaders  passed 
through  Upper  Marlboro,  Maryland.  Many  of  the  of 
ficers  made  their  headquarters  at  the  home  of  Dr.  Will 
iam  Beanes,  a  physician  whom  the  whole  town  loved. 
When  some  of  the  stragglers  from  the  army  began  to 
plunder  the  house,  Dr.  Beanes  put  himself  at  the  head 
of  a  small  body  of  citizens  and  pursued  these  stragglers. 
When  the  British  officers  heard  of  this,  Dr.  Beanes  was 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    223 

seized  and  treated,  not  with  kindness  as  a  prisoner  of 
war,  but  with  great  indignity.  Key,  as  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  doctor,  and  a  lawyer,  was  asked  by  the 
townsmen  to  intercede  for  the  prisoner.  When  appli 
cation  was  made  to  President  Madison  for  help,  he  ar 
ranged  to  send  Key  to  the  British  fleet,  under  a  flag 
of  truce,  on  a  government  vessel,  in  company  with  John 
S.  Skinner,  a  government  agent. 

For  a  week  or  ten  days  no  word  came  from  the  expe 
dition.  The  people  were  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  Key 
and  his  companion. 

The  bearers  of  the  flag  of  truce  found  the  fleet  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Potomac.  They  were  received  courteously 
until  they  told  their  business.  The  British  commander 
spoke  harshly  of  Dr.  Beanes,  but  fortunately  Mr. 
Skinner  had  letters  from  the  British  officers  who  had 
received  kindness  at  the  doctor's  hands.  General  Ross 
finally  agreed  that,  solely  as  a  recognition  of  this  kind 
ness,  the  prisoner  would  be  released.  But  he  told  the 
Americans  that  they  could  not  leave  the  fleet  for  some 
days.  They  were  therefore  taken  to  the  frigate  Sur 
prise,  where  they  were  under  guard.  They  understood 
that  an  immediate  attack  on  Baltimore  was  contem 
plated,  and  that  they  were  being  restrained  that  they 
might  not  warn  the  city  of  the  plans  of  the  enemy. 

That  night  Fort  McHenry  was  attacked.  The  Ad 
miral  had  boasted  that  the  works  would  be  carried  in 
a  few  hours,  and  that  the  city  would  then  fall.  So, 
from  the  deck  of  the  Surprise,  Key  and  his  companion 
watched  and  listened  anxiously  all  night.  Every  time  a 
shell  was  fired,  they  waited  breathlessly  for  the  explo 
sion  they  feared  might  follow.  "While  the  bombard 
ment  continued,  it  was  sufficient  proof  that  the  fort  had 


224        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

not  surrendered.  But  it  suddenly  ceased  some  time 
before  day.  .  .  .  They  paced  the  deck  for  the  remainder 
of  the  night  in  fearful  suspense.  ...  As  soon  as  it 
dawned,  and  before  it  was  light  enough  to  see  objects  at 
a  distance,  their  glances  were  turned  to  the  fort,  uncer 
tain  what  they  should  see  there,  the  Stars  and  Stripes, 
or  the  flag  of  the  enemy.  At  length  the  light  came,  and 
they  saw  that '  our  flag  was  still  there/  " 

A  little  later  they  saw  the  approach  of  boats  loaded 
with  wounded  British  soldiers.  Then  Key  took  an  en 
velope  and  wrote  many  of  the  lines  of  the  song,  and 
while  he  was  on  the  boat  that  carried  him  to  shore  he 
completed  the  first  rough  draft.  That  night,  at  the 
hotel,  he  rewrote  the  poem.  Next  day  he  showed  it  to 
Judge  Nicholson,  who  was  so  delighted  with  it  that  the 
author  was  encouraged  to  send  it  to  a  printer,  by  the 
hand  of  Captain  Benjamin  Eades.  Captain  Eades 
took  the  first  handbill  that  came  from  the  press  and 
carried  it  to  the  old  tavern  next  the  Holliday  Street 
Theatre.  There  the  words  were  sung  for  the  first  time, 
to  the  tune  "  Anacreon  in  Heaven,"  the  tune  Key  had 
indicated  on  his  copy. 

Long  before  the  author's  death  in  1843  the  song  had 
won  its  place  in  the  affections  of  the  people.  He  wrote 
many  other  poems,  and  some  of  them  have  become  popu 
lar  hymns.  At  the  memorial  service  conducted  for  him 
in  Christ  Church,  Cincinnati,  by  his  friend  and  former 
pastor,  Rev.  J.  T.  Brooke,  the  congregation  was  asked 
to  sing  Key's  own  hymn,  beginning: 

"  Lord,  with  glowing  heart  I'd  praise  thee, 

For  the  bliss  thy  love  bestows; 
For  the  pardoning  grace  that  saves  me, 
And  the  peace  that  from  it  flows. 


OVEK  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    225 

Help,  0  Lord,  my  weak  endeavor; 

This  dull  soul  to  rapture  raise; 
Thou  must  light  the  flame,  or  never 

Can  my  love  be  warmed  to  praise/7 

Dr.  Scott,  in  whose  Annapolis  home  Key  had  spent 
so  many  happy  days,  died  in  1814,  the  year  of  the  com 
position  of  "  The  Star-Spangled  Banner."  Mrs.  Scott 
lived  until  1819. 

XLIX 
THE  CAPITOL  AT  WASHINGTON 

THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  WASHINGTON  CITY,  AND  THE 
STORY  OF  THE  HOME  OF  CONGRESS 

The  selection  of  parts  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  as 
the  site  of  the  Federal  District  in  which  the  National 
Capital  was  to  be  located  was  made  only  after  many 
years  of  discussion. 

In  1779  some  of  the  members  of  Congress  talked  of 
buying  a  few  square  miles  near  Princeton,  New  Jersey, 
as  a  site  for  the  government's  permanent  home.  Four 
years  later,  the  trustees  of  Kingston,  New  York,  sought 
to  interest  Congress  in  that  location.  In  1783  An 
napolis,  Maryland,  offered  the  State  House  and  public 
circle  to  "  the  Honorable  Congress "  for  their  use. 
Burlington,  New  Jersey,  also  entered  the  lists,  while 
in  June,  1783,  Virginia  offered  the  town  of  Williams- 
burg  to  Congress  and  proposed  to  "  present  the  palace, 
the  capitol,  and  all  the  public  buildings  and  300  acres 
of  land  adjoining  the  said  city,  together  with  a  sum 
of  money  not  exceeding  100,000  pounds,  this  state  cur- 


226        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

rency  to  be  expended  in  erecting  thirteen  hotels  for  the 
use  of  the  delegates  in  Congress." 

In  October,  1784,  Congress  decided  to  place  the  cap 
ital  near  Trenton,  New  Jersey.  Later  it  was  decided 
to  have  a  second  capital  on  the  Potomac,  Congress  to 
alternate  between  the  two  locations. 

Neither  Congress  nor  the  country  was  satisfied  with 
this  solution  of  the  difficulty.  After  years  of  discus 
sion,  in  September,  1789,  one  house  of  Congress  fixed 
on  the  Falls  of  the  Susquehanna  in  Pennsylvania  as 
the  permanent  site.  The  Senate  amended  their  pro 
posal  by  suggesting  Germantown,  Pennsylvania. 

This  action  was  reconsidered  and  a  long  dispute  fol 
lowed.  Finally,  in  1790,  the  site  on  the  Potomac  was 
selected,  and  Congress  was  ready  to  provide  for  the 
building  of  "  a  palace  in  the  woods." 

President  Washington  and  Vice-President  Adams  dis 
agreed  as  to  the  location  of  the  Capitol  building.  John 
Adams  wished  to  see  it  the  centre  of  a  quadrangle  of 
other  public  buildings,  but  Washington  urged  that  Con 
gress  should  meet  in  a  building  at  a  distance  from  the 
President's  house  and  all  other  public  buildings,  that 
the  lawmakers  might  not  be  annoyed  by  the  executive 
officers. 

The  invitation  to  architects  to  present  plans  for  the 
Capitol  was  made  in  March,  1792,  five  hundred  dollars 
being  promised  for  the  best  plan.  None  of  the  sixteen 
designs  submitted  were  approved.  Later  two  men, 
Stephen  L.  Hallet  and  Dr.  William  Thornton,  offered 
such  good  plans  that  it  was  not  easy  to  decide  between 
them.  The  difficulty  was  solved  by  acceptance  of 
Thornton's  design  and  the  engagement  of  Hallet  as 
supervising  architect  at  a  salary  of  two  thousand  dollars 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    227 

a.  year.  This  arrangement  was  not  satisfactory ;  it  be 
came  necessary  to  replace  Hallet  first  by  George  Had- 
field,  then  by  James  Hoban,  the  architect  of  the  White 
House.  Under  his  charge  the  north  wing  was  com 
pleted  in  1800. 

The  proceeds  from  the  sale  of  lots  in  the  new  city 
proved  woefully  inadequate  for  the  expenses  of  the 
building.  Congress  authorized  a  loan  of  eight  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  but  this  loan  could  not  be  disposed 
of  until  Maryland  agreed  to  take  two-thirds  of  the 
amount,  on  condition  that  the  commissioners  in  charge 
of  the  work  add  their  personal  guarantee  to  the  govern 
ment's  promise  to  pay. 

Congress  was  called  to  hold  its  first  meeting  in  the 
Capitol  north  wing  on  November  17,  1800.  A  few 
months  earlier  the  government  archives  had  been  moved 
from  New  York.  These  were  packed  in  ten  or  twelve 
boxes,  and  were  shipped  on  a  packet  boat,  by  sea. 
The  arrival  of  the  vessel  was  greeted  by  the  three 
thousand  citizens  of  Washington,  who  rang  bells, 
cheered,  and  fired  an  old  cannon  in  celebration  of  the 
event. 

At  that  time  the  foundation  for  the  dome  had  been 
laid,  and  the  walls  of  the  south  wing  had  been  begun. 
Later  a  temporary  brick  building  was  erected  for  the 
House,  on  a  portion  of  the  site  of  the  south  wing.  The 
legislators  called  the  building  "  The  Oven." 

The  south  wing  was  completed  under  the  guidance 
of  Benjamin  Henry  Latrobe,  who  also  reconstructed 
the  north  wing  and  connected  the  two  wings  by  a 
wooden  bridge.  That  the  building  was  far  from  satis 
factory  is  evident  from  an  article  in  the  National 
Intelligencer  of  December  2,  1813,  which  spoke  with 


228        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

disgust  of  the  wooden  passageway  as  well  as  of  the 
piles  of  debris  on  every  hand. 

In  less  than  a  year  after  the  printing  of  the  criticism, 
conditions  were  far  worse,  for  the  British  troops  came 
to  Washington  on  August  24,  1814.  They  piled  furni 
ture  in  the  hall  of  the  House,  and  set  fire  to  it.  The 
wooden  bridge  that  connected  the  wings  burned  like 
tinder.  In  a  little  while  nothing  was  left  but  the  walls. 
"  The  appearance  of  the  ruins  was  perfectly  terrify 
ing,"  Architect  Latrobe  wrote. 

Thus  was  fulfilled  in  a  striking  way  the  prophecy 
made  by  John  Randolph  when  he  pleaded  with  Congress 
not  to  make  war  on  Great  Britain,  "  All  the  causes 
urged  for  this  war  will  be  forgotten  in  your  treaty  of 
peace,  and  possibly  this  Capitol  may  be  reduced  to 
ashes." 

The  next  session  of  Congress  was  held  in  the  Union 
Pacific  Hotel,  but  by  December,  1815,  there  was  ready 
a  three-story  building,  erected  by  popular  subscription, 
which  Congress  used  for  three  years,  paying  for  it  an 
annual  rental  of  f  1,650.  This  was  called  "  The  Brick 
Capitol." 

Of  course  efforts  were  made  to  remove  the  Capital 
to  another  location,  but  Congress  made  appropriation 
for  the  reconstruction  ef  the  Capitol  on  the  old  site. 
Work  was  begun  almost  at  once,  and  was  continued 
until  1830,  when  the  wings  had  been  rebuilt  as  well  as 
the  rotunda  and  centre  structure.  In  general  appear 
ance  the  building  was  the  same  as  before  the  fire,  but 
marble  instead  of  sandstone  was  used  for  colonnades 
and  staircases  and  floors.  The  beautiful  capitals  of  the 
marble  pillars  were  carved  in  Italy  or  prepared  by 
workmen  brought  from  Italy. 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    229 

During  the  latter  part  of  this  period  the  rotunda 
was  used  for  all  sorts  of  exhibitions.  Once  a  panorama 
of  Paris  was  shown  there,  an  admission  fee  of  fifty 
cents  being  charged.  Exhibits  of  manufactured  goods 
were  made  in  this  "  no  man's  land/7  over  which  nobody 
seemed  to  have  jurisdiction.  In  1827  a  congressman 
spoke  in  the  House  of  the  fact  that  "  triangles  of  steel 
to  take  the  place  of  bells,  stoves,  stew  pans,  pianos, 
mouse  traps,  and  watch  ribbons  were  marked  with 
prices  and  sundry  good  bargains  were  driven."  The 
general  public  felt  that  they  had  a  right  even  to  the  hall 
of  the  House;  frequently  popular  meetings  were  held 
there. 

The  present  dome  surmounting  the  rotunda  is  not  the 
dome  first  planned.  For  Latrobe's  dome,  which  he  did 
not  build,  a  higher  dome  was  substituted  by  Bulfinch. 
The  present  dome  is  the  work  of  Thomas  U.  Walter, 
the  designer  of  Girard  College,  Philadelphia,  whose 
plans  for  the  completion  of  the  Capitol  were  approved 
in  1851.  The  burning  of  the  western  front  of  the  centre 
building  in  December,  1851,  proved  a  blessing  in  dis 
guise,  for  Walter  was  able  to  rebuild  the  section  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  other  portions.  The  House 
first  occupied  its  present  quarters  on  December  16, 
1857,  but  the  Senate  was  not  able  to  take  possession 
of  its  new  hall  until  January  4,  1859. 

The  great  structure  was  finished  in  1865,  work  having 
been  carried  on  throughout  the  Civil  War.  Though 
they  knew  that  there  would  be  delay  in  receiving  pay 
ment  for  their  work,  the  contractors  insisted  on  con 
tinuing  and  completing  what  is  one  of  the  most  har 
monious  public  buildings  in  the  world. 

The  patriotic  contractors  had  their  reward,  for  the 


230        HISTORIC  SHKINES  OF  AMEKICA 

building  was  ready  to  receive  the  body  of  President 
Lincoln  when,  on  April  19,  1865,  after  the  services  in 
the  White  House,  the  casket  was  placed  on  a  catafalque 
under  the  dome  of  the  rotunda,  that  the  people  of  the 
country  whose  destinies  he  had  guided  through  four 
years  of  civil  war  might  gather  there  to  do  him  honor. 


THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINTGON 
THE  HOME  OF  EVERY  PRESIDENT  SINCE  WASHINGTON 

When,  in  1792,  James  Hoban  suggested  to  the  com 
mission  appointed  to  supervise  the  erection  of  public 
buildings  at  Washington  that  the  Executive  Mansion 
be  modelled  after  the  palace  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster 
in  Dublin,  his  proposition  was  accepted,  and  he  was 
given  a  premium  of  five  hundred  dollars  for  the  plan. 
More,  he  was  engaged,  at  the  same  amount  per  year, 
to  take  charge  of  the  builders. 

No  time  was  lost  in  laying  the  corner  stone.  The 
ceremony  was  performed  on  October  13,  1792,  and 
operations  were  pushed  with  such  speed  that  the  build 
ing  was  completed  ten  years  later! 

In  November,  1800,  six  months  after  the  transfer  of 
the  government  offices  from  Philadelphia  to  Washing 
ton,  Mrs.  Adams  joined  President  Adams  at  the  White 
House.  She  had  a  hard  time  getting  there.  A  few 
days  after  her  arrival  she  wrote  to  her  daughter: 

"  I  arrived  here  on  Sunday  last,  and  without  meeting 
any  accident  worth  noticing,  except  losing  ourselves 


OVER  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    231 

when  we  left  Baltimore,  and  going  eight  or  nine  miles 
on  the  Frederick  road,  by  which  means  we  were  obliged 
to  go  the  other  eight  miles  through  woods,  where  we 
wandered  for  two  hours,  without  finding  a  guide,  or 
the  path.  Fortunately,  a  straggling  black  came  up  with 
us,  and  we  engaged  him  as  a  guide  to  extricate  us  out 
of  our  difficulty ;  but  woods  are  all  you  see,  from  Balti 
more  until  you  reach  the  city,  which  is  only  so  in  name. 
Here  and  there  is  a  small  cot,  without  a  glass  window, 
interspersed  amongst  the  forests,  through  which  you 
travel  miles  without  seeing  any  human  being.  In  the 
city  there  are  buildings  enough,  if  they  were  compact 
and  furnished,  to  accommodate  Congress  and  those  at 
tached  to  it ;  but  as  they  are,  and  scattered  as  they  are, 
I  see  no  great  comfort  for  them." 

Mrs.  Adams  found  no  great  comfort  in  the  White 
House,  either.  "  To  assist  us  in  this  great  castle/'  she 
wrote,  "  and  render  less  attendance  necessary,  bells  are 
wholly  wanting,  not  one  single  one  being  hung  through 
the  whole  house,  and  promises  are  all  you  can  obtain. 
...  If  they  will  put  me  up  some  bells,  and  let  me  have 
wood  enough  to  keep  fires,  I  design  to  be  pleased.  .  .  . 
But,  surrounded  with  forests,  can  you  believe  that  wood 
is  not  to  be  had,  because  people  cannot  be  found  to  cut 
and  cart  it.  ...  The  house  is  made  habitable,  but  there 
is  not  a  single  apartment  finished.  .  .  .  We  have  not 
the  least  fence,  yard,  or  other  convenience,  without,  and 
the  great,  unfinished  audience-room  I  make  a  drying 
room  of,  to  hang  up  the  clothes  in.  The  principal  stairs 
are  not  up,  and  will  not  be  this  winter." 

The  building  itself  was  in  good  condition,  though  the 
surroundings  were  far  from  prepossessing,  when  it  was 
burned  by  the  British  in  1814.  President  and  Mrs. 
Madison  moved  to  the  Octagon  House,  and  spent  more 


232         HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

than  a  year  in  this  comfortable  winter  home  of  Colonel 
John  Tayloe. 

The  cost  of  rebuilding  and  refurnishing  the  Execu 
tive  Mansion  was  about  three  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
The  work  was  begun  in  1814,  and  in  September,  1817, 
the  building  was  so  far  completed  that  President  Monroe 
was  able  to  take  up  his  quarters  there  in  some  degree 
of  comfort,  though  the  floor  in  the  East  Room  had  not 
yet  been  laid  and  some  of  the  walls  were  still  without 
plastering.  On  January  1,  1818,  the  first  New  Year's 
reception  was  held  there.  "  It  was  gratifying  to  be 
able  to  salute  the  President  of  the  United  States  with 
the  compliments  of  the  season  in  his  appropriate  resi 
dence,'7  the  National  Intelligencer  said.  It  may  be 
added  that  the  editor  called  the  building  "  the  Presi 
dent's  House."  The  title,  "the  White  House,"  was 
not  yet  in  common  use. 

For  many  years  the  successive  occupants  of  the  build 
ing  were  subject  to  all  sorts  of  criticism.  Mrs.  Monroe 
refused  both  to  make  first  calls  and  to  return  calls. 
President  Monroe  bought  foreign-made  furnishings! 
John  Quincy  Adams  actually  introduced  a  billiard  table, 
and  the  use  of  public  money  to  buy  "  a  gaming  table  " 
was  bitterly  attacked!  (Of  course  the  purchase  was 
made  with  personal  funds.)  Mrs.  Adams  was  cold  and 
haughty!  When  President  Van  Buren  left  Washington 
he  took  with  him  the  gold  spoons  and  the  gilt  dessert 
service  that  had  attracted  attention!  But  these  were 
private  property. 

However,  most  criticisms  like  these  have  been  in 
spired  by  pride  in  the  President  and  his  household,  and 
a  pardonable  feeling  of  possession  in  them  and  the 
White  House. 


OVEE  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    233 

Until  within  recent  years  the  President's  offices  were 
in  the  east  end  of  the  White  House.  A  pleasing  de 
scription  of  these  offices  has  come  down  from  Isaac  N. 
Arnold,  who  thus  spoke  of  the  quarters  of  President 
Lincoln : 

"  The  furniture  of  the  room  consisted  of  a  large  oak 
table,  covered  with  cloth  extending  north  and  south, 
and  it  was  round  this  table  that  the  Cabinet  sat  when 
it  held  its  meetings.  Near  the  end  of  the  table  and  be 
tween  the  windows  was  another  table,  on  the  west  side 
of  which  the  President  sat,  in  a  large  arm-chair,  and 
at  this  table  he  wrote.  A  tall  desk,  with  pigeon  holes 
for  paper,  stood  against  the  south  wall.  The  only  books 
usually  found  in  this  room  were  the  Bible,  the  United 
States  Statutes,  and  a  copy  of  Shakespeare.  There 
were  a  few  chairs  and  two  plain  hair-covered  sofas. 
There  were  two  or  three  map  frames,  from  which  hung 
military  maps,  on  w^hich  the  positions  and  movements 
of  the  armies  were  traced.  There  was  an  old  and  dis 
colored  engraving  of  General  Jackson  over  the  mantel 
and  a  later  photograph  of  John  Bright.  Doors  open 
into  this  room  from  the  room  of  the  secretary  and  from 
the  outside  hall,  running  east  and  west  across  the  house. 
A  bell-cord  within  reach  of  his  hand  extended  to  the 
secretary's  office.  A  messenger  sat  at  the  door  opening 
from  the  hall,  and  took  in  the  cards  and  names  of 
visitors." 

During  the  time  of  President  Roosevelt,  outside  Ex 
ecutive  offices  were  built,  and  rooms  that  had  long  been 
needed  for  the  personal  uses  of  the  President's  house 
hold  were  released.  The  change  has  increased  patriotic 
pride  in  the  White  House,  one  of  the  simplest  mansions 
provided  for  the  rulers  of  the  nations. 


234        HISTOEIC  SHKINES  OF  AMERICA 

LI 

THE  OCTAGON  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON 

IN  WHICH  DOLLY  MADISON  LAVISHED  HOSPITALITY  IN  1814 

John  Tayloe,  the  wealthiest  man  in  the  Virginia  of 
the  late  eighteenth  century,  had  his  summer  home  at 
Mt.  Airy.  His  plantation,  the  largest  in  the  State,  was 
worked  by  more  than  five  hundred  slaves. 

When  he  wanted  a  winter  home,  he  thought  of  build 
ing  at  Philadelphia.  But  George  Washington,  eager  to 
secure  him  as  a  resident  of  the  young  Federal  City  on 
the  Potomac,  asked  him  to  consider  the  erection  of  a 
house  there.  So  Mr.  Tayloe  made  an  investigation  of 
Washington  as  a  site  for  a  residence,  bought  a  lot  for 
one  thousand  dollars,  and  in  1798  commissioned  Dr. 
William  Thornton  to  make  the  plans  for  a  palatial 
house.  During  the  construction  of  the  building  Wash 
ington  several  times  rode  by  and  from  the  saddle  in 
spected  the  progress  of  the  work. 

Thornton  was  at  the  time  a  well-known  man,  though 
he  had  been  born  in  the  West  Indies  and  was  for  many 
years  a  resident  there.  After  receiving  his  education 
in  Europe,  he  lived  for  several  years  in  the  United 
States.  During  this  period  he  was  a  partner  of  John 
Fitch  in  the  building  and  trial  of  the  steamboat  that 
for  a  time  ran  successfully  on  the  Delaware  River,  more 
than  twenty  years  before  Fulton  built  the  Clermont. 
He  was  himself  something  of  an  inventor;  he  secured 
a  number  of  patents  for  a  device  to  move  a  vessel  by 
applying  steam  to  a  wheel  at  the  side  of  the  hull. 


From  the  Monograph  on  the  Octagon  House, 
Issued  by  the  American  Institute  of  Architects 


THE  STAIRWAY,   OCTAGON  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON,   D.  C. 


UPTON  SCOTT  HOUSE,  ANNAPOLIS,  MD 


Photo  by  M.  M.  Carter,  Annapolis 
See  page  220 


• 


OCTAGON  HOl'SK,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 


/  ,,,,,,/  „,,  P"  runic  Cousin*  Art  Company 
from  the  Monograph  on  the  Octagon  House 
by  the  American  Institute  of  Architects 

See  page  234 .] 


OVEK  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    235 

He  had  returned  to  the  West  Indies  when  he  read 
that  a  prize  was  to  be  given  for  the  best  plan  submitted 
for  the  Capitol  to  be  built  at  Washington.  At  once 
he  wrote  for  particulars,  and  in  due  time  he  presented 
his  plans.  He  was  then  living  in  the  United  States. 
The  plans  were  considered  the  best  that  had  been  of 
fered.  Jefferson  said  that  they  "  captivated  the  eyes 
and  judgment  of  all,"  while  Washington  spoke  of  their 
"  grandeur,  simplicity,  and  convenience."  While  these 
plans  were  later  modified  by  others,  certain  features  of 
the  Capitol  as  it  appears  to-day  are  to  be  traced  directly 
to  Dr.  Thornton's  plans. 

At  the  time  of  the  award  he  was  but  thirty-one  years 
old,  and  had  already  won  a  place  as  a  physician,  an 
inventor,  and  a  man  of  science.  He  was  a  friend  of 
Benjamin  Franklin,  and  had  received  the  prize  offered 
for  the  design  for  the  new  building  of  the  Library 
Company  of  Philadelphia,  in  which  Franklin  was  espe 
cially  interested.  Later  he  was  awarded  a  gold  medal 
by  the  American  Philosophical  Society  for  a  paper  in 
which  he  outlined  the  method  of  the  oral  teaching  of 
deaf  and  dumb  children  which  is  still  in  use  in  many 
institutions. 

The  building  planned  by  Dr.  Thornton  for  Mr.  Tay- 
loe,  at  the  northeast  corner  of  New  York  Avenue  and 
Eighteenth  Street,  was  completed  in  1801.  At  the  time 
it  was  the  best  house  in  Washington.  At  once,  as  the 
Octagon  House,  it  became  famous  for  the  lavish  hospi 
tality  of  its  owner. 

The  next  stirring  period  in  the  history  of  the  Octagon 
House  was  the  later  years  of  the  second  war  with  Great 
Britain.  On  the  night  of  August  24,  1814,  when  the 
British  Army  entered  the  city,  the  French  minister, 


236        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

M.  Serurier,  looked  from  his  window  and  saw  soldiers 
bearing  torches  going  toward  the  White  House. 
Quickly  he  sent  a  messenger  to  General  Ross  and  asked 
that  his  residence  be  spared.  The  messenger  found 
General  Ross  in  the  Blue  Room,  where  he  was  collect 
ing  furniture  for  a  bonfire.  Assured  that  "  the  king's 
house  "  would  be  respected,  he  returned  to  the  minister. 

Dr.  Thornton,  who  was  at  the  time  superintendent 
of  the  patent  office,  succeeded  in  persuading  Colonel 
Jones  to  spare  that  building,  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
a  museum  of  the  Arts,  and  that  its  destruction  would 
be  a  loss  to  all  the  world. 

Among  the  public  buildings  destroyed  was  the  White 
House.  Mr.  Tayloe  at  once  offered  the  Octagon  House 
to  President  Madison.  On  September  9,  1814,  the 
National  Intelligencer  announced,  "  The  President  will 
occupy  Colonel  Tayloe's  large  house,  which  was  lately 
occupied  by  the  French  minister."  For  more  than  a 
year  the  house  was  known  as  the  Executive  Annex. 

Rufus  Rockwell  Wilson,  in  "  Washington,  the  Capital 
City,"  tells  how  the  mansion  looked  at  this  time: 

"  Its  circular  entrance  hall,  marble  tiled,  was  heated 
by  two  picturesque  stoves  placed  in  small  recesses  in 
the  wall.  Another  hall  beyond  opened  into  a  spacious 
and  lovely  garden  surrounded  by  a  high  brick  wall  after 
the  English  fashion.  To  the  right  was  a  handsome 
drawing  room  with  a  fine  mantel,  before  which  Mrs. 
Madison  was  accustomed  to  stand  to  receive  her  guests. 
To  the  left  was  a  dining-room  of  equal  size  and  beauty. 
A  circular  room  over  the  hall,  with  windows  to  the 
floor  and  a  handsome  fireplace,  was  President  Madison's 
office.  Here  he  received  his  Cabinet  officers  and  other 
men  of  note,  listening  to  their  opinions  and  reports  on 
the  progress  of  the  war;  and  here,  also,  on  a  quaintly 


OVEK  THE  MASON  AND  DIXON  LINE    237 

carved  table,  he  signed,  February  18,  1815,  the  procla 
mation  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  which  ended  the  contest 
with  England." 

The  story  of  this  table's  history  is  interesting.  From 
the  Octagon  House  it  went  to  John  Ogle  Ferneaux,  of 
King  George  County,  Virginia.  He  kept  it  until  Octo 
ber  30,  1897,  when  it  was  sold  to  Mrs.  A.  H.  Voorhies, 
of  2011  California  Street,  San  Francisco.  When  the 
fire  that  succeeded  the  earthquake  of  1906  approached 
the  house,  the  table  was  taken  away  hurriedly.  Mrs. 
Voorhies  says,  "  We  wrapped  sheets  around  the  cir 
cular  part  of  the  table,  and  in  part  of  the  journey,  it 
went  turning  round  as  a  wheel  to  a  place  of  safety." 
The  San  Francisco  chapter  of  the  Institute  of  Archi 
tects  purchased  it  for  f  1,000,  and  sent  it  to  Washing 
ton,  December  1,  1911. 

It  is  said  that  on  the  day  the  message  came  to  the 
Octagon  House  that  peace  had  been  declared,  Miss  Sally 
Coles,  who  was  Mrs.  Madison's  cousin,  called  from  the 
head  of  the  stairs,  "Peace!  Peace!"  One  who  was  a 
guest  at  the  time  gave  a  lively  account  of  the  scene  in 
the  house: 

"  Late  in  the  afternoon  came  thundering  down  Penn 
sylvania  Avenue  a  coach  and  four  foaming  steeds,  in 
which  was  the  bearer  of  the  good  news.  Cheers  fol 
lowed  the  carriage  as  it  sped  on  its  way  to  the  residence 
of  the  President.  Soon  after  nightfall,  members  of 
Congress  and  others  deeply  interested  in  the  event  pre 
sented  themselves  at  the  President's  House,  the  doors 
of  which  stood  open.  When  the  writer  of  this  entered 
the  drawing  room  at  about  eight  o'clock,  it  was  crowded 
to  its  full  capacity.  Mrs.  Madison — (the  President  be 
ing  with  the  Cabinet) — doing  the  honors  of  the  occa 
sion  ;  and  what  a  happy  scene  it  was ! " 


238        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Mr.  Tayloe  occupied  the  Octagon  at  intervals  until 
his  death  in  1828.  Mrs.  Tayloe  lived  until  1855.  By 
this  time  the  neighborhood  had  changed,  and  the  prop 
erty  deteriorated.  In  1865  it  was  occupied  as  a  girls' 
school.  From  1866  to  1879  it  was  the  hydrographic 
office  of  the  Navy  Department.  Later  it  became  a 
dwelling  and  studio.  From  1885  to  1889  it  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  caretaker,  and  deteriorated  rapidly.  At  the 
last  eight  or  ten  families  of  colored  people  lived  within 
the  storied  walls. 

The  Institute  of  American  Architects  leased  the  prop 
erty  in  1899  and  later  purchased  the  house  for  f 30,000. 
It  is  now  one  of  the  sights  of  Washington.  A  tablet 
fixed  to  the  wall  relates  the  main  facts  of  its  history. 


SIX:  HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE 
CAVALIERS 


I  love  the  stately  southern  mansions  with  their  tall  white  columns, 

They  look  through  avenues  of  trees,  over  fields  where  the  cotton  is 
growing; 

I  can  see  the  flutter  of  white  frocks  along  their  shady  porches, 

Music  and  laughter  float  from  the  windows,  the  yards  are  full  of  hounds 
and  horses. 

Long  since  the  riders  have  ridden  away,  yet  the  houses  have  not  for 
gotten, 

They  are  proud  of  their  name  and  place,  and  their  doors  are  always 
open, 

For   the    thing    they    remember    lest   is    the   pride    of    their    ancient 
hospitality. 

HENRY  VAN  DYKE. 


SIX:  HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS 

LII 

MOUNT  VERNON,  VIRGINIA 
SACRED  TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

George  Washington  was  twenty  years  old  when  he 
became  the  owner  of  the  Mount  Vernon  estate  on  the 
Potomac,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  will 
of  Laurence  Washington,  his  half-brother.  At  that 
time  the  house  contained  but  eight  rooms  and  an  attic, 
four  rooms  on  each  floor.  There  were  twenty-five  hun 
dred  acres  in  the  farm. 

As  a  boy  Washington  had  tramped  over  every  acre 
of  the  estate.  When  he  was  sixteen  he  made  a  plot 
of  the  region  around  Mt.  Vernon.  The  original  of  the 
survey  made  at  that  time  may  be  seen  in  the  Library 
of  Congress  at  Washington. 

The  young  owner  looked  forward  to  years  of  quiet 
on  his  estate,  but  he  was  frequently  called  away  from 
home  for  service  in  the  militia  of  Virginia.  In  spite 
of  these  absences,  however,  he  managed  to  make  the 
acres  surrounding  the  mansion  give  a  good  account  of 
themselves. 

When  he  responded  to  the  call  of  the  Colonies  and 
became  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  army,  he  turned  his 
back  on  Mt.  Vernon  with  great  reluctance,  and  for  six 

241 


242        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

years  hardly  saw  the  place  he  loved.  But  when  the 
independence  of  the  Colonies  had  been  won  he  returned 
home,  in  the  hope  that  he  might  be  permitted  to  remain 
there  in  obscurity,  farming  his  land  and  entertaining 
his  friends  in  the  house  on  the  Potomac. 

That  he  might  have  more  room  for  his  friends,  he 
enlarged  the  house.  On  July  5,  1784,  he  wrote  to  his 
friend,  William  Rumney  of  Alexandria,  asking  him  to 
inquire  into  the  terms  on  which  "  a  House  Joiner  and 
Bricklayer  "  might  be  engaged  for  two  or  three  years. 
To  the  house,  which  dated  from  1744,  he  made  additions 
until  it  was  three  times  as  large  as  when  he  inherited 
the  property.  The  alterations  were  completed  in  1785. 
The  completed  house  was  ninety-six  feet  long,  and  thirty 
feet  deep,  with  a  piazza  fifteen  feet  wide.  The  building 
material  was  wood,  cut  in  imitation  of  stone. 

While  these  alterations  were  in  progress  a  visitor 
to  Mt.  Vernon  was  Charles  Vardo,  an  Englishman. 
When  he  returned  home  he  wrote  an  account  of  his  visit, 
in  which  said: 

"  I  crossed  the  river  from  Maryland  into  Virginia, 
near  to  the  renowned  General  Washington's,  where  I 
had  the  honor  to  spend  some  time,  and  was  kindly 
entertained  with  that  worthy  family.  As  to  the  Gen 
eral,  if  we  may  judge  by  the  countenance,  he  is  what 
the  world  says  of  him,  a  shrewd,  good-natured,  plain, 
humane  man,  about  fifty-five  years  of  age,  and  seems 
to  wear  well,  being  healthful  and  active,  straight,  well 
made,  and  about  six  feet  high.  He  keeps  a  good  table, 
which  is  always  open  to  those  of  a  genteel  appear 
ance.  .  .  . 

"  The  General's  house  is  rather  warm,  snug,  con 
venient  and  useful,  than  ornamental.  The  size  is  what 
ought  to  suit  a  man  of  about  two  or  three  thousand 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     243 

a  year  in  England.  The  out-offices  are  good  and  seem 
to  be  not  long  built;  and  he  was  making  more  offices  at 
each  wing  to  the  front  of  the  house,  which  added  more 
to  ornament  than  to  real  use.  The  situation  is  high, 
and  commands  a  beautiful  prospect  of  the  river  which 
parts  Virginia  and  Maryland,  but  in  other  respects  the 
situation  seems  to  be  out  of  the  world,  being  chiefly 
surrounded  by  woods,  and  far  from  any  great  road  or 
thoroughfare.  .  .  .  The  General's  lady  is  a  hearty, 
comely,  discreet,  affable  woman,  some  few  years  older 
than  himself.  .  .  .  The  General's  house  is  open  to  poor 
travellers  as  well  as  rich,  he  gives  diet  and  lodging  to 
all  that  come  that  way,  which  indeed  cannot  be  many, 
without  they  go  out  of  their  way  on  purpose.  ..." 

A  visitor  of  January  19,  1785,  was  Elkanah  Watson. 
In  his  diary  Washington  wrote  simply  that  Mr.  Watson 
came  in  and  stayed  all  night;  and  that  he  went  away 
after  breakfast  next  morning.  But  Mr.  Watson  had 
a  fuller  account  to  give: 

"  I  found  him  at  table  with  Mrs.  Washington  and  his 
private  family,  and  was  received  in  the  native  dignity 
and  with  that  urbanity  so  peculiarly  combined  in  the 
character  of  a  soldier  and  eminent  private  gentleman. 
He  soon  put  me  at  ease.  .  .  .  The  first  evening  I  spent 
under  the  wing  of  his  hospitality,  we  sat  a  full  hour 
at  table  by  ourselves,  without  the  least  interruption, 
after  the  family  had  retired.  I  was  extremely  oppressed 
by  a  severe  cold  and  excessive  coughing,  contracted  by 
the  exposure  of  a  harsh  winter  journey.  He  pressed 
me  to  use  some  remedies,  but  I  declined  doing  so.  As 
usual  after  retiring,  my  coughing  increased.  When 
some  time  had  elapsed,  the  door  of  my  room  was  gently 
opened,  and  on  drawing  my  bed-curtains,  to  my  utter 
astonishment,  I  beheld  Washington  himself,  standing 
at  my  bedside,  with  a  bowl  of  hot  tea  in  his  hand." 


HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

The  following  May  Rev.  Thomas  Coke  and  Bishop 
Francis  Asbury  were  welcomed  to  Mt.  Vernon.  "  The 
General's  seat  is  very  elegant,"  Mr.  Coke  wrote.  "  He 
is  quite  the  plain,  country-Gentleman."  After  dinner 
the  visitors  presented  to  their  host  a  petition  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  Negroes,  "  entreating  his  signa 
ture,  if  the  eminence  of  his  station  did  not  render  it 
inexpedient  for  him  to  sign  any  petition."  Washing 
ton  told  his  guests  that  he  was  "  of  their  sentiments, 
and  had  signified  his  thoughts  on  the  subject  to  most 
of  the  great  men  of  the  State;  that  he  did  not  see  it 
proper  to  sign  the  petition,  but  if  the  Assembly  took 
it  into  consideration,  would  signify  his  sentiments  to 
the  Assembly  by  a  letter." 

An  attractive  picture  of  the  General  was  given  by 
Richard  Henry  Lee  after  a  visit  to  Mt.  Vernon  in 
November,  1785: 

"  When  I  was  first  introduced  to  him  he  was  neatly 
dressed  in  a  plain  blue  coat,  white  Casimer  waistcoat, 
and  black  breeches  and  Boots,  as  he  came  from  his 
farm.  After  having  sat  with  us  some  time  he  retired. 
.  .  .  Later  he  came  in  again,  with  his  hair  neatly  pow 
dered,  a  clean  shirt  on,  a  new  plain  drab  Coat,  white 
waistcoat  and  white  silk  stockings." 

John  Hunter,  who  was  with  Colonel  Lee,  added  his 
impression : 

"  The  style  of  his  house  is  very  elegant,  something 
like  the  Prince  de  Condi's  at  Chantilly,  near  Paris,  only 
not  quite  so  large ;  but  it's  a  pity  he  did  not  build  a  new 
one  at  once,  as  it  has  cost  him  nearly  as  much  a  repair 
ing  his  old  one.  .  .  .  It's  astonishing  what  a  number 
of  small  houses  the  General  has  upon  his  Estate  for 


MOUNT  VERNON,  VIRGINIA,   REAR  VIEW 


Photo  by  E.  C.  Hall 
Sop  page  241 


ARLINGTON,  VIRGINIA 


Photo  by  H.  P.  Cook 
See  page  246 


Photo  by  H.  P.  Cook 


CHRIST  CHURCH,  ALEXANDRIA,   VA. 


See  page  249 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     245 

his  different  Workmen  and  Negroes  to  live  in.  He  has 
everything  within  himself — Carpenters,  Bricklayers, 
Brewers,  Blacksmiths,  Bakers,  etc.,  etc.,  and  even  has 
a  well  assorted  store  for  the  use  of  his  family  and 
servants." 

.While  the  repairs  were  still  in  progress,  the  ship 
Mary  arrived  at  Alexandria,  having  a  consignment  for 
Washington  from  Samuel  Vaughan,  a  great  admirer 
in  London.  This  was  a  chimney-piece,  wrought  in  Italy 
from  pure  white  and  sienite  marble,  for  the  use  of  Mr. 
Vaughan.  When  the  mantel  reached  England  the 
owner  learned  of  the  improvements  then  in  progress  at 
Mt.  Vernon.  Without  unpacking  the  mantel  he  sent  it 
on  to  America.  When  Washington  received  word  of  the 
arrival  of  the  gift,  he  wrote,  "  By  the  number  of  cases, 
however,  I  greatly  fear  it  is  too  elegant  and  costly  for 
my  room  and  republican  style  of  living."  Nevertheless 
the  mantel  was  installed  in  the  mansion  and  became  a 
great  delight  to  the  household. 

Washington's  days  at  Mt.  Vernon  were  interrupted 
by  the  renewed  call  of  his  country.  For  much  of  the 
time  for  eight  years  he  was  compelled  to  be  absent,  and 
when,  at  length,  the  opportunity  came  to  resume  the 
free  life  on  his  estate,  he  had  less  than  three  years  left. 
But  these  years  were  crowded  full  of  hospitality  in  the 
mansion  and  of  joyous  work  on  the  estate,  and  when, 
on  December  14,  1799,  he  died  as  a  result  of  a  cold 
caught  while  riding  on  the  estate,  he  left  it  to  his 
"  dearly  beloved  wife,  Martha  Washington." 

For  many  years  Mt.  Vernon  continued  its  hospitable 
career.  Then  came  years  of  neglect,  when  the  mansion 
was  falling  into  ruins.  But  in  1853-56  Miss  Ann 
Pamela  Cunningham  of  South  Carolina  appealed  to  the 


246        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

women  of  the  nation,  and  succeeded  in  organizing  an 
association  that  took  over  the  estate,  restored  it  to  its 
original  condition,  furnished  it  with  Washington  relics 
gathered  from  far  and  near,  and  opened  it  for  the  visits 
of  the  reverent  visitors  to  the  city  of  Washington,  who 
continue  their  journey  sixteen  miles  down  the  Potomac 
that  they  may  look  on  the  scene  that  brought  joy  to 
the  heart  of  the  Father  of  his  Country. 


LIII 
ARLINGTON,  VIRGINIA 

FROM  WHICH  ROBERT  E.  LEE  WENT  TO  BATTLE  FOR 
THE  SOUTH 

After  the  death  of  George  Washington  the  Mt.  Vernon 
family  was  gradually  broken  up,  one  after  another  going 
elsewhere  for  a  home.  George  Washington  Parke  Cus- 
tis,  Washington's  adopted  son,  and  grandson  of  Martha 
Washington,  decided  to  build  a  home  on  a  hill  over 
looking  the  Potomac,  opposite  Washington  City.  There 
were  eleven  hundred  acres  in  the  estate  of  which  Arling 
ton,  the  mansion  he  built  in  1802,  was  the  central 
feature. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  stately  house  is  an  adapta 
tion  of  the  Doric  temple  at  Paestum,  near  Naples.  The 
roof  of  the  great  portico  rests  on  eight  massive  columns. 
The  rooms  within  are  of  a  size  in  keeping  with  the 
magnificent  portal. 

Perhaps  the  plan  was  too  ambitious  for  the  Custis 
fortune.  At  any  rate  the  rooms  on  the  south  side  of 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     247 

the  hall  were  not  completed.  But  it  was  a  famous 
house,  nevertheless.  Guests  were  many.  They  de 
lighted  to  look  from  the  portico  across  the  Potomac  to 
Washington,  where  they  could  see  the  government  build 
ings  slowly  taking  shape. 

One  of  the  favored  guests  was  Robert  E.  Lee.  His 
frequent  visits  led  to  his  marriage,  in  1831,  to  Mr. 
Custis'  daughter.  At  this  time  Lee  was  a  lieutenant 
in  the  United  States  Army.  Mrs.  Lee  remained  at 
Arlington,  waiting  for  the  husband  whose  military 
duties  enabled  him  to  spend  only  brief  seasons  with 
her  and  the  growing  family  there. 

During  the  years  before  the  war  visitors  to  the  Cap 
ital  City  thronged  to  Arlington.  Some  of  them  were 
interested  in  the  many  Washington  relics  in  the  house. 
Chief  among  these  was  the  bed  on  which  Washington 
died.  Others  came  to  the  picnic  grounds  at  Arlington 
Spring,  which  Mr.  Custis  had  opened  for  the  pleasure 
of  the  people,  building  for  the  use  of  all  comers  a  great 
dining-hall,  a  dancing  pavilion,  and  a  kitchen. 

One  of  these  visitors  told  his  impressions  of  Arling 
ton: 

"  In  front  of  the  mansion,  sloping  toward  the  Poto 
mac,  is  a  fine  park  of  two  hundred  acres,  dotted  with 
groves  of  oak  and  chestnut  and  clumps  of  evergreens; 
and  behind  it  is  a  dark  old  forest,  with  patriarchal 
trees  bearing  many  centennial  honors,  and  covering  six 
hundred  acres  of  hill  and  dale.  Through  a  portion  of 
this  is  a  sinuous  avenue  leading  up  to  the  mansion." 

At  the  time  of  the  secession  of  Virginia,  Robert  E. 
Lee  was  a  colonel.  Duty  seemed  clear  to  him.  It  was 
not  easy  for  him  to  take  up  arms  against  the  United 


248        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

States  Government,  but  lie  considered  himself  first  of 
all  a  citizen  of  his  native  State.  To  respond  to  the  call 
of  the  Confederacy  meant  ruin.  His  beautiful  home,  he 
feared,  would  be  destroyed.  But  he  did  not  hesitate. 
A  desire  to  retain  possession  of  his  slaves  had  nothing 
to  do  with  his  decision.  His  own  slaves  had  already 
been  freed,  and  provision  had  been  made  in  the  will 
of  Mrs.  Lee's  father  that  all  his  slaves  should  be  freed 
in  1862. 

When,  in  1865,  General  Lee  was  urged  to  prolong  the 
conflict  by  guerilla  warfare,  he  said :  "  No,  that  would 
not  do.  It  must  be  remembered  that  we  are  Christian 
people.  We  have  fought  the  fight  as  long  and  as  well 
as  we  know  how.  We  have  been  defeated.  For  us  as  a 
Christian  people  there  is  but  one  course  to  pursue.  We 
must  accept  the  situation.  These  men  must  go  home  and 
plant  a  crop,  and  we  must  proceed  to  build  up  our 
country  on  a  new  basis." 

But  he  could  not  return  to  Arlington.  The  govern 
ment  had  taken  possession  of  the  estate  for  a  National 
Cemetery.  For  a  time  he  lived  in  obscurity  on  a  little 
farm.  Then  he  became  President  of  Washington  Col 
lege,  later  Washington  and  Lee  University.  With  his 
family  he  lived  on  the  campus  at  Lexington,  Virginia, 
and  there  he  died,  October  12,  1870. 

In  the  meantime  the  National  Cemetery  at  Arlington 
was  becoming  a  pilgrimage  point  for  patriotic  Ameri 
cans.  The  slopes  of  the  beautiful  lawn  were  covered 
with  graves.  The  stately  white  mansion,  with  its  eight 
great  pillars  and  its  walls  of  stucco  seemed  a  fitting 
background  for  the  ranks  of  little  white  tombstones. 

For  years  the  title  to  the  property  was  in  dispute. 
In  1864  the  United  States  bought  it  for  $26,800,  when  it 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     249 

was  sold  at  auction  for  delinquent  taxes.  In  1882  the 
Supreme  Court  decided  that  G.  W.  C.  Lee,  son  of  Gen 
eral  Lee,  was  entitled  to  the  property,  and  the  following 
year  the  government  paid  him  f  150,000  for  eleven  hun 
dred  acres,  including  the  mansion. 


LIV 

CHRIST  CHURCH,  ALEXANDRIA,  VIRGINIA 

WHERE  WASHINGTON  HAD  A  PEW  "  AT  THE  UPPER  PART 
OF  THE  CHURCH" 

George  Washington  was  chosen  one  of  the  vestrymen 
of  Fairfax  parish  in  1764,  when  this  was  formed  by  the 
division  of  Truro  parish,  although  he  was  already  a 
vestryman  in  Pohick  Church  at  Truro. 

The  records  of  the  new  parish  show  that  in  1766  it 
was  decided  to  build  Christ  Church  at  Alexandria,  and 
a  second  church  at  the  Falls  of  the  Potomac  instead  of 
the  old  church  there.  The  members  of  the  parish  were 
asked  to  pay  thirty-one  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco  for 
the  purpose  of  construction. 

James  Wren,  the  architect  of  Christ  Church,  is  said 
to  have  been  a  descendant  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren. 
While  the  building  was  well  designed,  no  one  ever 
thought  of  it  as  a  masterpiece.  But  it  has  answered  the 
purposes  of  the  worshipper  for  more  than  a  century  and 
a  half,  and  it  promises  to  last  at  least  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years  more. 

The  original  contract  called  for  the  expenditure  of 
£600.  Colonel  John  Carlisle,  who  was  bondsman  for 


250        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

the  contractor,  James  Parsons,  in  1772,  agreed  to  com 
plete  the  building  on  payment  of  £220  additional,  since 
Parsons  failed  to  fulfil  his  agreement. 

The  church  was  built  of  brick,  and  was  sixty  by  fifty 
feet  long.  The  work  was  carefully  done,  but  the  struc 
ture  was  ready  for  the  vestry  to  take  possession  early 
in  1773. 

At  the  first  sale  of  pews,  of  which  there  were  fifty 
in  all,  Washington  paid  £36  10  s.  for  pew  number  five. 
He  had  already  made  a  generous  gift  toward  the  build 
ing  fund,  but  asked  the  privilege  of  giving  the  brass 
chandelier  which  still  hangs  from  the  ceiling. 

When  the  Church  and  State  were  separated  in  Vir 
ginia,  after  the  Revolution,  Washington  subscribed  five 
pounds  a  year  to  the  rector's  salary.  By  act  of  the  legis 
lature  the  glebe  lands  of  churches  in  the  State  were 
confiscated,  but,  through  the  influence  of  Washington 
and  Charles  Lee,  Christ  Church  "  and  one  other  "  (prob 
ably  Falls  Church)  were  allowed  to  retain  their  lands. 

Many  changes  have  been  made  in  the  building.  The 
gallery  was  added  in  1787,  that  twenty-five  pews  might 
be  provided  for  the  growing  congregation.  The  west 
aisle  was  built  in  1811,  and  the  next  year  the  chimneys 
were  built,  for  stoves  were  placed  in  the  church  at 
that  time.  The  bell  was  hung  in  1816.  The  pews  were 
later  divided,  including  that  which  Washington  occu 
pied,  but  this  pew  has  since  been  restored  to  its  original 
condition.  Since  1891  the  high  pulpit  and  sounding 
board  have  been  replaced  as  they  were  at  first. 

Washington's  diary  tells  of  his  attendance  at  service 
on  Sunday,  June  2,  1799.  Perhaps  it  was  of  this  Sun 
day  a  visitor  to  Alexandria  wrote  in  a  letter  to  a  friend, 
which  was  quoted  in  "  The  Religious  Opinions  and  Char- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     251 

acter  of  George  Washington,"  published  in  1836.     The 
writer  said : 

"  In  the  summer  of  1799  I  was  in  Alexandria  on  a 
vijsit  to  the  family  of  Mr.  H.  .  .  .  Whilst  there,  I  ex 
pressed  a  wish  to  see  General  Washington,  as  I  had 
never  enjoyed  that  pleasure.  My  friend  .  .  .  observed: 
'  You  will  certainly  see  him  on  Sunday,  as  he  is  never 
absent  from  church  when  he  can  get  there;  and  as  he 
often  dines  with  us,  we  will  ask  him  on  that  day,  when 
you  will  have  a  better  opportunity  of  seeing  him.1  Ac 
cordingly,  we  all  repaired  to  church  on  Sunday.  .  .  . 
General  Washington  .  .  .  walked  to  his  pew,  at  the 
upper  part  of  the  church,  and  demeaned  himself  through 
out  the  service  of  the  day  with  that  gravity  and  pro 
priety  becoming  the  place  and  his  own  high  character. 
After  the  services  were  concluded,  we  waited  for  him 
at  the  door,  for  his  pew  being  near  the  pulpit  he  was 
among  the  last  that  came  out — when  Mrs.  H.  invited 
him  to  dine  with  us.  He  declined,  however,  the  invita 
tion,  observing,  as  he  looked  at  the  sky,  that  he  thought 
there  were  appearances  of  a  thunderstorm  in  the  after 
noon,  and  he  believed  he  would  return  home  to  dinner." 


LV 


THE  MARY  WASHINGTON  HOUSE,  FREDERICKS- 
BURG,  VIRGINIA 

WHERE  WASHINGTON'S  MOTHER  SPENT  HER  LAST  YEARS 

The  first  property  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
name  of  Mary  Ball,  who  became  the  mother  of  George 
Washington,  was  on  the  tract  of  four  hundred  acres  "  in 
ye  freshes  of  Rappa-h-n  River,"  bequeathed  to  her  in  her 


252        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

father's  will  before  she  was  six  years  old.  Her  father, 
Colonel  Joseph  Ball  of  Epping  Forest,  Lancaster 
County,  thought  he  was  about  to  die,  but  he  lived  some 
years  longer. 

Ten  years  later  an  unknown  writer  spoke  of  Mary 
Ball  in  pleasing  terms : 

"  WmsBurg,  ye  7th  of  Octr,  1722. 
"  Dear  Sukey,  Madam  Ball  of  Lancaster  and  her 
sweet  Molly  have  gone  Horn.  Mama  thinks  Molly  the 
Comliest  Maiden  She  Knows.  She  is  about  16  yrs  old, 
is  taller  than  Me,  is  verry  Sensable,  Modest  and  Loving. 
Her  Hair  is  like  unto  Flax,  Her  Eyes  are  the  color  of 
Yours,  and  her  Chekes  are  like  May  blossoms.  I  wish 
You  could  see  Her." 

This  "  Belle  of  the  Northern  Neck,"  as  she  came  to  be 
called,  continued  her  conquests  of  young  and  old  until, 
at  twenty-two,  an  orphan,  she  left  Epping  Forest  to  live 
with  her  brother,  Joseph  Ball,  at  "  Stratford-by-bow, 
Nigh  London."  There,  on  March  6,  1730,  she  became 
the  second  wife  of  Augustine  Washington,  the  second 
son  of  Laurence  Washington,  who  was  visiting  England 
at  the  time. 

Less  than  two  years  later,  at  Wakefield,  on  the  Poto 
mac,  in  Westmoreland  County,  Virginia,  George  Wash 
ington  was  born.  He  was  not  three  years  old  when  the 
mansion  was  burned. 

The  new  home  was  at  Pine  Grove,  in  Stafford  County, 
on  the  Rappahannock  River,  opposite  Fredericksburg. 
For  eight  years  the  family  circle  was  unbroken,  but 
on  April  12,  1743,  Augustine  Washington  died.  Lau 
rence  Washington,  Mary  Washington's  stepson,  then  be 
came  the  owner  of  Mt.  Vernon,  while  to  George  Wash- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     253 

ington  was  bequeathed  Pine  Grove,  though  the  estate 
was  to  be  managed  by  Mrs.  Washington  until  the  son 
became  twenty-one. 

With  wonderful  skill  Mrs.  Washington  directed  the 
plantation  and  with  firm  purpose  she  devoted  herself  to 
the  care  of  her  five  fatherless  children. 

A  picture  of  this  capable  woman  at  this  period  was 
recorded  by  Laurence  Washington,  a  nephew  of  George 
Washington's  father.  He  wrote: 

"  I  was  often  there  [at  Pine  Grove]  with  George,  his 
playmate,  schoolmate,  and  young  man's  companion.  Of 
the  mother,  I  was  more  afraid  than  of  my  own  parents ; 
she  awed  me  in  the  midst  of  her  kindness;  and  even 
now,  when  time  has  whitened  my  locks  and  I  am  the 
grandfather  of  a  second  generation,  I  could  not  behold 
that  majestic  woman  without  feelings  it  is  impossible 
to  describe." 

The  death,  in  1752,  of  Laurence  Washington  of  Mt. 
Vernon  made  George  Washington  the  owner  of  that 
property.  Thereafter  the  twenty-five  hundred  acre 
estate  became  known  as  the  home  of  the  eldest  son,  while 
Mrs.  Washington  remained  at  Pine  Grove  with  her 
younger  children. 

Only  a  few  months  later  he  stopped  to  see  his  mother, 
as  he  was  on  his  way  to  the  West  to  carry  out  a  com 
mission  laid  upon  him  by  Governor  Dinwiddie.  As 
Mrs.  Washington  bade  her  son  good-bye,  she  urged  him 
to  "  remember  that  God  only  is  our  sure  trust."  Then 
she  added,  "  To  Him  I  commend  you." 

Her  words  were  remembered.  In  1755,  when  General 
Braddock  asked  Colonel  Washington  to  accompany  him 
to  Fort  Pitt,  Mrs.  Washington  hurried  to  Mt.  Vernon 


254:        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

and  urged  him  not  to  go.     He  considered  her  objections, 
but  said: 

"  The  God  to  whom  you  commended  me,  madam,  when 
I  set  out  on  a  more  perilous  errand,  defended  me  from 
all  harm,  and  I  trust  He  will  do  so  now;  do  you?  " 

One  by  one  the  children  left  Pine  Grove.  In  1750 
Betty  Washington  was  married  to  Colonel  Fielding 
Lewis,  who  built  for  her  the  stately  house  Kenmore,  not 
far  from  her  mother's  home,  but  across  the  river,  on 
the  edge  of  Fredericksburg.  This  house  is  still  among 
the  show  places  of  the  old  town. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  Revolution  Colonel  and  Mrs. 
Lewis  tried  to  persuade  Mrs.  Washington  that  she  was 
getting  too  old  to  live  alone  at  Pine  Grove,  and  urged 
her  to  make  her  home  at  Kenmore.  At  the  same  time 
Colonel  Lewis  offered  to  take  over  the  management  of 
the  plantation.  To  both  entreaties  she  turned  a  deaf 
ear ;  she  said  she  felt  entirely  competent  to  take  care  of 
herself,  and  she  would  manage  her  own  farm. 

However,  she  consented  to  make  her  home  in  a  house 
purchased  for  her  in  Fredericksburg,  because  "  George 
thought  it  best."  The  dutiful  son  had  time  to  help  in 
the  flitting  to  the  new  home  before  he  hurried  to  the 
North.  He  was  not  to  see  her  again  for  seven  long 
years. 

A  member  of  the  family  described  later  the  days  of 
waiting  when  Mary  Washington  directed  her  household 
in  the  preparation  of  clothes,  provisions,  and  other  com 
forts  for  the  General  and  his  associates :  "  During  the 
trying  years  when  her  son  was  leading  the  Continental 
forces,  the  mother  was  watching  and  praying,  following 
him  with  anxious  eyes,"  the  story  is  told.  "  But  to  the 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     255 

messenger  who  brought  tidings,  whether  of  victory  or 
defeat,  she  turned  a  calm  face,  whatever  tremor  of  feel 
ing  it  might  mask,  and  to  her  daughter  she  said,  chiding 
her  for  undue  excitement,  '  The  sister  of  the  command 
ing  general  should  be  an  example  of  fortitude  and 
faith/  » 

It  was  November  11,  1781,  when  the  victorious  com 
mander  next  saw  Fredericksburg,  on  his  way  to  Phila 
delphia  from  Yorktown.  George  Washington  Parke 
Custis  has  described  the  meeting  with  his  mother : 

"  She  was  alone,  her  aged  hands  employed  in  the 
works  of  domestic  industry,  when  the  good  news  was  an 
nounced,  and  it  was  told  that  the  victor  was  awaiting 
at  the  threshold.  She  bade  him  welcome  by  a  warm 
embrace,  and  by  the  well-remembered  and  endearing 
name  of  George.  .  .  .  She  inquired  as  to  his  health,  for 
she  marked  the  lines  which  mighty  cares  and  toils  had 
made  in  his  manly  countenance,  and  she  spoke  much  of 
old  times  and  old  friends,  but  of  his  glory  not  one 
word." 

When  the  Peace  Ball  was  given  in  Fredericksburg 
she  was  an  honored  guest.  Her  son  walked  with  her 
into  the  gaily  decorated  ballroom.  She  remained  for  a 
time,  but  after  a  while,  from  the  seat  where  she  had 
watched  the  dance,  she  called  him  to  her  side.  When 
she  was  near  she  said,  "  Come,  George,  it  is  time  for  old 
folks  to  be  at  home." 

Lafayette  visited  Fredericksburg  in  1784,  that  he 
might  pay  his  respects  to  Mrs.  Washington.  He  found 
her  in  her  garden,  dressed  in  a  short  linsey  skirt,  work 
ing  among  her  flowers.  After  his  visit  he  declared,  "  I 
have  seen  the  only  Roman  matron  living  at  this  day." 

She  still  went  frequently  to  her  plantation  across  the 


256        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

river,  but  as  she  became  more  feeble  her  son  gave  her 
a  phaeton  in  which  she  could  cross  the  ferry  in  comfort. 
Her  great-granddaughter  has  written  of  her  appearance 
when  she  rolled  in  the  phaeton  down  the  village  street : 

"  In  summer  she  wore  a  dark  straw  hat  with  broad 
brim  and  low  crown,  tied  under  her  chin  with  black 
ribbon  strings;  but  in  winter  a  warm  hood  was  substi 
tuted,  and  she  was  wrapped  in  the  purple  cloth  cloak 
lined  with  silk  shang  (a  present  from  her  son  George) 
that  is  described  in  the  bequests  of  her  will.  In  her 
hand  she  carried  her  gold-headed  cane,  which  feeble 
health  now  rendered  necessary  as  a  support." 

One  of  the  last  visits  paid  by  George  Washington  to 
his  mother  was  on  March  7,  1789.  A  Fredericksburg 
paper  of  March  12  said,  "  The  object  of  his  Excellency's 
visit  was  probably  to  take  leave  of  his  aged  mother, 
sister,  and  friends,  previous  to  his  departure  for  the  new 
Congress,  over  the  councils  of  which,  the  united  voice  of 
America  has  called  him  to  preside."  On  March  11 
Washington's  account  book  shows  that  the  expenses  of 
the  trip  were  £1.8.0.  He  also  noted  that  he  advanced  to 
his  mother  at  the  time  "  6  Guineas." 

At  New  York,  on  September  1,  1789,  President  Wash 
ington  was  dining  with  friends  when  a  messenger 
brought  word  of  the  death  of  Mrs.  Washington.  The 
notice  of  her  death,  as  given  in  the  Gazette  of  the  United 
States,  on  September  9,  read: 

"  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  August  27,  1789 — On 
Tuesday,  the  25th  inst.  died  at  her  home  in  this  town, 
Mrs.  Mary  Washington,  aged  83  years,  the  venerable 
mother  of  the  illustrious  President  of  the  United  States, 
after  a  long  and  painful  indisposition,  which  she  bore 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     257 

with  uncommon  patience.  Though  a  pious  tear  of  duty, 
affection,  and  esteem  is  due  to  the  memory  of  so  revered 
a  character,  yet  our  grief  must  be  greatly  alleviated  from 
the  consideration  that  she  is  relieved  from  the  pitiable 
infirmities  attendant  on  an  extreme  old  age. — It  is  usual 
when  virtuous  and  conspicuous  persons  quit  this  terres 
trial  abode,  to  publish  an  elaborate  panegyric  on  their 
characters — suffice  it  to  say,  she  conducted  herself 
through  this  transitory  life  with  virtue,  prudence,  and 
Christianity,  worthy  the  mother  of  the  grandest  Hero 
that  ever  adorned  the  annals  of  history." 

"0  may  kind  heaven,  propitious  to  our  fate, 
Extend  THAT  HERO'S  to  her  lengthen 'd  date; 
Through  the  long  period,  healthy,  active,  sage ; 
Nor  know  the  sad  infirmities  of  age. ' ' 

The  house  in  Fredericksburg  which  was  occupied  after 
1775  by  Mrs.  Washington,  is  now  the  property  of 
the  Association  for  the  Preservation  of  Virginian 
Antiquities. 


LVI 

GREENWAY  AND  SHERWOOD  FOREST, 
VIRGINIA 

TWO  OF  THE  HOMES  OF  JOHN  TYLER 

A  little  girl  was  responsible  for  the  fact  that  John 
Tyler,  who  became  the  tenth  president  of  the  United 
States,  was  born,  not  at  Marlie,  but  at  Greenway. 
Marlie  was  the  name  chosen  by  Judge  John  Tyler  for 
his  James  River  estate,  but  his  young  daughter,  Anne 


258        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Contesse,  as  soon  as  she  began  to  talk,  insisted  on  call 
ing  it  "  Green  way/'  "  because  the  grass  grows  so  green 
there." 

The  fact  that  Anne's  name  displaced  that  chosen  by 
her  father  is  an  indication  of  his  great  love  for  chil 
dren.  Greenway  was  "  a  bird's  nest  full  of  young,"  but 
at  various  times  he  added  to  his  own  flock  one  or  another 
of  twenty-one  children,  of  whom  he  was  made  guardian, 
all  of  whom  he  guided  through  childhood  to  earnest  man 
hood  and  womanhood. 

These  children  must  have  enjoyed  roaming  about  the 
estate,  for,  according  to  Judge  Tyler's  description,  it 
was  a  delightful  place.  He  said  of  it : 

"  Greenway  contains  five  hundred  acres,  well  im 
proved.  On  it  is  a  genteel,  well-furnished  dwelling- 
house,  containing  six  rooms,  all  wainscoted,  chair-board 
high,  with  fine  dry  cellars  the  full  length  of  the  house, 
which  is  56  feet;  also  every  other  building  which  a 
reasonable  person  could  wish  or  desire,  to  wit :  a  hand 
some  study,  storehouse,  kitchen,  laundry,  dairy,  meat- 
house,  spring-house,  and  an  ice-house  within  the  cur- 
telage ;  a  barn  40  by  34  feet,  two  granaries,  two  carriage 
houses,  20  stalls  for  horses,  a  quarter  for  house  servants ; 
a  handsome  pigeon-house,  well  stocked;  and  several 
other  houses  for  slaves;  a  well  of  water  (so  excellent 
that  I  can  drink  with  delight  after  returning  from  a 
mountain  circuit),  a  large,  fertile  garden,  abounding 
with  a  great  variety  of  shrubs,  herbs,  and  beautiful 
flowers,  well  enclosed.  The  buildings  new  and  well  cov 
ered  with  shingles." 

On  this  attractive  estate  John  Tyler  was  born  on 
March  29,  1790.  He  was  a  slender,  delicate-looking  lad, 
but  he  was  not  afraid  to  stand  up  for  himself  when  he 
felt  he  was  being  abused.  His  first  schoolmaster,  a 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     259 

Mr.  McMurdo,  who  taught  across  the  road  from  Green- 
way,  thought  that  it  was  impossible  to  teach  well  unless 
the  rod  was  in  daily  use.  "  It  was  a  wonder  that  he  did 
not  whip  all  the  sense  out  of  his  scholars,"  John  said 
once,  years  later.  But  one  day  the  boys  rebelled. 
"  John  and  some  of  the  larger  boys  tripped  him  up, 
and  began  to  tie  his  hands  and  feet,"  the  Tyler  family 
biographer  tells  the  story.  "  McMurdo  scuffled  bravely, 
but  upon  little  William  Tyler,  the  smallest  boy  in  school, 
throwing  himself  upon  him,  he  exclaimed,  in  imitation 
of  the  great  Roman, '  Et  tu,  Brute! '  and  ceased  to  resist. 
The  boys  firmly  secured  him,  locked  him  up  in  the 
schoolhouse,  and  left  with  cheers  of  triumph  and 
derision." 

Hours  later  the  schoolmaster  was  released  by  a  pass 
ing  traveller,  who  heard  his  cries.  At  once  the  enraged 
man  hastened  to  Judge  Tyler  and  told  his  story.  "  But 
the  Judge,  born  and  bred  in  the  Revolutionary  school, 
hated  tyranny  in  any  shape,  and  as  he  drew  himself  up 
to  his  full  stature,  he  ...  replied,  in  the  language  of 
Virginia's  motto,  '  Sic  Semper  Tyrannis.' ' 

At  the  age  of  twelve  John  entered  the  grammar  school 
of  William  and  Mary  College  at  Williamsburg.  There 
he  had  a  good  time,  and  he  made  a  creditable  showing  in 
his  classes.  Yet  that  he  did  not  advance  in  at  least  one 
study  is  evident  from  a  letter  written  by  his  father  in 
1807.  He  said : 

"  I  can't  help  telling  you  how  much  I  am  mortified  to 
find  no  improvement  in  your  handwriting;  neither  do 
you  construct  your  lines  straight,  which  makes  your 
letters  look  too  abominable.  It  is  an  easy  thing  to 
correct  this  fault,  and  unless  you  do  so,  how  can  you 
be  fit  for  law  business?  " 


260        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Some  years  later,  when  Judge  Tyler  was  Governor 
of  Virginia,  he  announced  impressively  to  John  that 
Thomas  Jefferson  would  be  among  the  dinner  guests  on 
a  certain  day.  "  Be  sure  you  have  a  good  dinner,"  the 
Governor  added ;  for  John  was  at  the  time  in  charge  of 
the  establishment.  The  future  President  asked  himself, 
"  What  is  the  best  thing  for  dinner?  "  "  Plum  pud 
ding  !  "  was  the  answer. 

The  appointed  time  came.  The  company  was  seated 
at  table.  The  first  course  was  served.  Then  came  a 
long  wait. 

"  Suddenly  a  door  flew  open,  and  a  negro  servant 
appeared,  bearing,  with  both  hands  raised  high  above 
his  head,  a  smoking  dish  of  plum  pudding.  Making  a 
grand  flourish,  the  servant  deposited  it  before  Governor 
Tyler.  Scarcely  had  he  withdrawn  before  another  door 
flew  open,  and  an  attendant,  dressed  exactly  like  the 
first,  was  seen  bringing  another  plum  pudding,  equally 
hot,  which  at  a  grave  nod  from  John,  he  placed  before 
Mr.  Jefferson.  The  Governor,  who  expected  a  little 
more  variety,  turned  to  his  son,  who  sat  surveying  the 
puddings  with  tender  interest,  and  exclaimed,  in  accents 
of  astonishment,  '  Two  plum  puddings,  John,  two  plum 
puddings !  Why,  this  is  rather  extraordinary ! '  '  Yes, 
sir/  said  the  enterprising  major  domo,  '  it  is  extraor 
dinary;  but '  (and  here  he  rose  and  bowed  deferentially 
to  Mr.  Jefferson)  i  it  is  an  extraordinary  occasion.' ' 

In  1813,  John  Tyler  married  Letitia  Christian. 
Tiiey  did  not  make  their  home  at  Greenway,  however. 
On  the  death  of  Judge  Tyler  the  old  house  was  sold,  but 
it  became  the  property  of  John  Tyler  in  1821.  There 
he  retired  for  the  season  of  rest  which  he  sorely  needed 
after  his  strenuous  years  as  a  member  of  the  House  of 
Delegates,  and  Representative  in  Congress  During  the 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     261 

intervals  of  his  service  as  Governor  and  United  States 
Senator  lie  resided  at  the  old  home,  but  in  1829  he  sold 
the  property,  and  removed  to  Gloucester  County,  to  an 
estate  which  he  took  for  debt.  Eighteen  years  later,  at 
the  close  of  his  presidential  term,  he  returned,  with  his 
bride,  the  second  Mrs.  Tyler,  to  the  county  where  he 
was  born,  having  bought  an  estate  of  twelve  hundred 
acres,  three  miles  from  Greenway,  on  the  north  side  of 
the  James,  opposite  Brandon.  He  tore  down  the  old 
house  on  the  estate,  and  built  a  house  on  the  same  plan, 
which,  with  its  connected  out-buildings,  was  more  than 
two  hundred  feet  long.  He  called  his  place  "  Sherwood 
Forest,"  with  grim  humor;  for  was  he  not  an  outlaw, 
in  the  opinion  of  the  Whigs,  just  as  really  as  was  Kobin 
Hood? 

Not  long  after  the  beginning  of  life  at  Sherwood 
Forest  he  was  appointed  overseer  of  the  road  on  which 
his  estate  was  located.  Some  claimed  that  this  appoint 
ment  was  secured  by  the  Whigs  to  humiliate  him.  But 
he  refused  to  be  humiliated.  Instead  he  determined  to 
be  a  good  overseer  and  make  the  road  the  best  in  the 
State.  All  the  men  in  the  township  were  called,  and 
they  were  kept  at  work  day  after  day,  as,  according  to 
law,  he  had  a  right  to  keep  them.  But  it  was  harvest 
time,  and  the  wheat  was  dead  ripe.  "  The  smiles  that 
lately  illuminated  the  countenances  of  the  Whigs  turned 
to  dismay.  The  august  justice  who  had  made  the  ap 
pointment  repaired  to  Mr.  Tyler's  house,  and  repre 
sented  to  him  the  state  of  things.  Mr.  Tyler  replied  that 
the  law  made  it  his  duty  to  put  the  road  in  good  order, 
and  to  keep  it  so.  The  Whigs  expostulated.  Mr.  Tyler 
was  firm.  Then  the  justice  begged  him  to  resign,  and 
let  the  hands  go  home.  The  ex-President  said,  *  Offices 


2G2        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

are  hard  to  obtain  in  these  times,  and  having  no  assur 
ance  that  I  can  ever  get  another,  I  cannot  think,  under 
the  circumstances,  of  resigning/  ? 

One  of  the  statesman's  valued  companions  during 
these  early  years  at  Sherwood  Forest  was  "  General," 
the  old  horse  which  he  had  owned  for  many  years.  At 
length  the  horse  died,  and  was  buried  in  the  grave  at 
Sherwood  Forest.  On  a  wooden  slab  at  the  head  of  the 
grave  the  owner  wrote : 

"  Here  lieth  the  bones  of  my  old  horse,  General,  who 
served  his  master  faithfully  for  twenty-seven  years,  and 
never  blundered  but  once — would  that  his  master  could 
say  the  same !  " 

The  last  years  of  John  Tyler's  life  witnessed  the  re 
turn  of  his  popularity.  Enemies  became  friends,  and  all 
rejoiced  to  do  him  honor.  He  was  called  to  a  number 
of  honorable  posts,  and  he  was  about  to  take  his  seat 
as  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  Con 
federate  Congress  when  he  died,  in  Richmond,  on  Jan 
uary  18,  1862. 


LVII 

TWO  HISTORIC  COURTHOUSES  OF  VIRGINIA 

OLD  DOMINION  COUNTY  BUILDINGS  AT  HANOVER  AND 
WILLIAMSBURG 

A  momentous  announcement  appeared  in  the  Will- 
iamsburg,  Virginia,  Gazette  on  March  16,  1769 : 

"  The  Common  Hall  having  this  day  determined  to 
build  a  commodious  brick  court-house  in  this  city  and 


Photo  by  II.  P.  Cook 
See  page  2.">1 


NGTON  S  HOUSE,   FREDEK1CKSBURG,  VA 


HANOVER  COURT  HOUSE.  VIRGINIA 


It u    II.  P.  Cook 
See  page  20  2 


ST.  JOHN  S  CHURCH,  RICHMOND,  V 


Photo  by  H.  P.  Cook 
See  page  266 


NELSON  HOUSE,  YORKTOWN,  VA. 


Photo  by  H.  P.  Cook 
See  page  270 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     263 

having  appointed  us  to  agree  with  and  undertake  to 
build  the  same,  we  do  hereby  give  notice  that  we  shall 
meet  at  Mr.  Hay's  (the  Raleigh  Tavern)  on  Tuesday, 
the  4th  of  April,  to  let  the  building  thereof ;  we  are  also 
appointed  to  dispose  of  the  present  court-house,  and  the 
ground  on  which  the  same  stands.  James  Cock,  John 
Carter,  James  Carter,  John  Tazewell." 

The  building  displaced  by  the  new  structure  was 
erected  in  1716  by  William  Levington,  and  was  given 
to  the  city  in  1745  by  "  the  Gentlemen  subscribers  for 
the  Play  House." 

The  stone  steps  on  the  new  building,  which  are  still 
in  use,  were  brought  from  England  in  1772.  A  copy 
of  the  letter  in  which  William  Wilson  acknowledged 
their  receipt  is  in  a  letter  book  preserved  in  the  library 
of  the  Episcopal  Seminary,  near  Alexandria. 

During  the  Revolution,  the  patriots  were  called  to 
gether,  from  time  to  time,  by  the  bell  in  the  picturesque 
tower.  It  was  fitting,  then,  that  when  American  inde 
pendence  was  celebrated  at  Williamsburg,  on  May  1, 
1783,  the  Courthouse  was  made  the  rallying  place  for 
the  people.  On  receipt  of  official  notice  from  Governor 
Benjamin  Harrison  that  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been 
signed,  the  mayor  of  Williamsburg  prepared  an  "  Order 
of  the  Procession  on  the  Great  Day,"  which  closed  with 
the  following  direction : 

"  The  Citizens  to  be  Conveyed  on  Thursday,  at  1 
o'clock  at  the  Court-House  by  a  Bellman. 

"After  the  convention  of  citizens  they  are  to  make 
proclamation  at  the  C:  House,  after  which  the  Bells 
at  the  Church,  College,  &  Capitol  are  to  ring  in  peal. 

"  From  the  C*  House  the  Citizens  are  to  proceed  to 
the  College,  and  make  proclamation  at  that  place,  from 
whence  they  are  to  proceed  to  the  Capitol  and  make 


264        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

proclamation  there  and  from  thence  Proceed  to  the 
Raleigh  (Tavern)  &  pass  the  rest  of  the  day." 

A  frequent  visitor  to  the  Williamsburg  Courthouse 
was  the  brilliant  lawyer  Patrick  Henry,  whose  reputa 
tion  as  an  orator  was  made  long  before  he  delivered  his 
"  Give  me  Liberty  or  Give  me  Death "  speech  at  St. 
John's  Church,  Richmond. 

Some  years  before  the  Williamsburg  Courthouse  was 
erected,  this  orator  made  his  first  public  speech,  at  Han 
over  Courthouse,  a  building  that  dates  from  1735,  in 
the  celebrated  suit  of  the  clergy  demanding  the  payment 
of  their  stipends  in  tobacco,  according  to  law.  In  con 
sequence  of  a  short  crop  the  price  had  increased,  and 
they  insisted  that  it  was  their  right  to  have  the  advan 
tage  of  the  increase.  Their  case  had  been  tried  once 
and  won.  The  attorney  of  the  people  thereupon  with 
drew,  and  Henry  was  engaged  to  appear  for  them  in 
court. 

When  the  case  was  called,  Rev.  Patrick  Henry  was 
present,  to  the  regret  of  his  nephew.  The  lawyer  sought 
his  uncle  and  said  that  he  feared  he  would  be  too  much 
overawed  by  his  presence  to  do  his  duty  to  his  clients, 
and  added  that  he  would  be  compelled  to  say  some 
"  very  hard  things  of  the  clergy."  The  minister  there 
upon  entered  his  carriage,  and  drove  away. 

William  Wirt  describes  the  scene  at  the  opening  of 
the  case : 

"  On  the  bench  sat  more  than  twenty  clergymen,  the 
most  learned  men  in  the  Colony,  and  the  most  capable, 
as  well  as  the  severest  critics  before  whom  it  was  pos 
sible  for  him  to  have  made  his  d£but.  The  Court  House 
was  crowded  with  an  overwhelming  multitude,  and  sur 
rounded  with  an  immense  and  anxious  throng,  who,  not 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     265 

finding  room  to  enter,  were  endeavoring  to  listen  with 
out,  in  the  deepest  attention.  But  there  was  something 
still  more  awfully  disconcerting  than  all  this ;  for  in  the 
chair  of  the  presiding  magistrate,  sat  no  other  person 
than  his  own  father.  .  .  . 

"  And  now  came  on  the  first  trial  of  Patrick  Henry's 
strength.  No  one  had  ever  heard  him  speak,  and  curi 
osity  was  on  tiptoe.  He  rose  very  awkwardly,  and  fal 
tered  much  in  his  exordium.  The  people  hung  their 
heads  at  so  unpromising  a  commencement;  the  clergy 
were  observed  to  exchange  sly  looks  with  each  other,  and 
the  father  is  described  as  having  almost  sunk  with  con 
fusion,  from  his  seat.  But  these  feelings  were  of  short 
duration,  and  soon  gave  place  to  others,  of  a  very  dif 
ferent  character.  .  .  .  The  spirit  of  his  genius  awakened 
all  his  features.  .  .  .  His  action  became  graceful,  bold, 
and  commanding;  and  in  the  tones  of  his  voice,  but  more 
especially  in  his  emphasis,  there  was  a  peculiar  charm, 
a  magic,  of  which  any  one  who  ever  heard  him  will 
speak  as  soon  as  he  is  n?med,  but  of  which  no  one  can 
give  any  adequate  description.  .  .  . 

"  The  people,  whose  countenances  had  fallen  as  he 
arose,  had  heard  but  very  few  sentences  before  they 
began  to  look  up;  then  to  look  at  each  other  with  sur 
prise,  as  if  doubting  the  evidence  of  their  own  senses. 
...  In  less  than  twenty  minutes,  they  might  be  seen  in 
every  part  of  the  house,  on  every  bench,  in  every  window, 
stooping  forward  from  their  stands,  in  deathlike  si 
lence.  .  .  .  The  mockery  of  the  clergy  was  soon  turned 
into  alarm;  their  triumph  into  confusion  and  despair; 
and  at  one  burst  of  his  rapid  and  overwhelming  invec 
tive,  they  fled  from  the  bench  in  precipitation  and  terror. 
As  for  the  father,  such  was  his  surprise,  such  his  amaze 
ment,  such  his  rapture,  that,  forgetting  where  he  was, 
and  the  character  which  he  was  filling,  tears  of  ecstasy 
streamed  down  his  cheeks  without  the  power  or  inclina 
tion  to  restrain  them." 

The  case  was  won.     As  soon  as  the  verdict  was  an- 


266        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

nounced  the  people  seized  the  orator  at  the  bar  and  bore 
him  out  of  the  courthouse.  Then,  raising  him  on  their 
shoulders,  they  carried  him  about  the  yard. 


LVIII 

ST.  JOHN'S  CHURCH,  RICHMOND 

WHERE  PATRICK  HENRY  SAID,  "  GIVE  ME  LIBERTY,  OR 
GIVE  ME  DEATH  " 

In  1611  Sir  Thomas  Dale  founded  his  town  of  Henri- 
copolis,  the  second  established  settlement  in  Virginia. 
It  was  named  in  honor  of  Prince  Henry,  the  eldest  son 
of  James  I.  A  church  was  soon  after  built.  The 
bounds  of  Henrico  parish,  to  which  it  belonged,  were 
quite  large  until  1634,  when  the  parish  was  made  to 
include  the  present  Chesterfield,  Powhatan,  and  Gooch- 
land  counties. 

Soon  after  the  marriage  of  Pocahontas  she  moved  to 
the  plantation  of  her  husband,  John  Rolfe,  near  Henri- 
copolis,  and  they  were  both  members  of  Henrico  parish 
until  they  left  Virginia. 

The  written  records  of  Henrico  parish  begin  with 
1730.  At  that  time  the  principal  church  of  the  parish 
was  on  Curie's  plantation,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
James,  some  miles  below  the  present  city  of  Richmond. 
Curie's  church  disappeared  during  the  Civil  War.  The 
bowl  of  the  baptismal  font  in  St.  John's  Church,  Rich 
mond,  is  a  relic  of  the  old  church.  This  was  removed 
from  the  cellar  of  a  house  where  it  had  been  in  use  for 
beating  hominy. 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     267 

Steps  were  taken  in  1737  to  build  the  present  St. 
John's  Church,  because  of  the  increase  of  population  in 
Richmond.  The  first  action  was  recorded  as  follows : 

"  At  a  Vestry  held  at  Curls  Church  for  Henrico  parish 
ye  8th  day  of  October  Anno  Dom.  1737  for  laying  ye 
parish  Levey — 

"  The  Vestry  do  agree  to  build  a  Church  on  the  most 
convenient  place  at  or  near  Thomas  Williamsons  in  this 
parish  to  be  Sixty  feet  in  Length  and  Twenty-five  in 
Breadth  and  fourteen  feet  pitch  to  be  finished  in  a  plain 
Manner  After  the  Moddle  of  Curls  Church.  And  it  is 
ordered  that  the  Clerk  do  Set  up  Advertisements  of  the 
particular  parts  of  the  Said  Building  and  of  the  time 
and  place  of  undertaking  the  Same.  .  .  .  It  is  ordered 
that  the  Collector  do  receive  of  every  Tithable  person 
in  this  parish  five  pounds  of  Tobacco  after  the  Usual 
deduction  to  be  apply'd  towards  building  the  New 
Church  at  Williamsons." 

At  a  later  meeting  the  location  and  the  dimensions  of 
the  church  were  changed.  Richmond  was  decided  on, 
and  it  was  stated  that  "  Richard  Randolph  Gent  under 
takes  the  Said  Building  and  engages  to  finish  the  Same 
by  the  Tenth  day  of  June,  which  Shall  be  in  the  year  of 
our  Lord  1741 ;  for  which  the  Vestry  agrees  to  pay  him 
the  Sum  of  £317  10s.  Current  Money  to  be  paid  by  the 
amount  of  the  Sale  of  Twenty  thousand  pounds  of  Tob'o 
Annually  to  be  Levyd  on  the  parish  and  Sold  here  for 
Money  till  the  whole  payment  be  compleat." 

There  is  no  record  of  the  completion  of  the  building, 
but  probably  it  was  finished  at  the  appointed  time. 
Since  that  date  various  additions  have  been  made,  yet 
it  is  possible  to  trace  the  lines  of  the  original  structure. 
The  original  pews  are  still  in  use,  though  they  have  been 
lowered.  The  hinges  of  the  pew  doors  are  handwrought. 


268        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

The  wainscoting  and  the  window  sashes  are  those  first 
put  in.  The  original  weather-boarding  is  still  in  place. 
It  is  fastened  by  nails  whose  heads  are  half  an  inch 
broad. 

For  the  new  church  there  were  imported  from  Eng 
land: 

"  One  Parsons  Surples,  a  Pulpit  Cushen  and  Cloth, 
two  cloths  for  Reading  Desks,  a  Communion  Table 
Cloth,  and  a  Dozen  of  Cushens — to  be  of  good  Purple 
Cloth,  and  the  Surples  good  Hollond,  also  Large  Bible 
and  four  large  Prayer  Books." 

An  entry  in  the  vestry  book  on  December  17,  1773, 
shows  that  the  rector,  Mr.  Selden,  received  as  salary 
17,150  pounds  of  tobacco,  worth  £125.  The  clerk  of  the 
parish  received  1,789  pounds  of  tobacco,  or  £13  10s.,  the 
sexton  had  536  pounds,  or  £3.10s.7d. 

Selden  was  chaplain  of  the  Virginia  Convention  which 
met  in  the  church  March  20,  1775.  At  the  closing  ses 
sion  of  this  convention  Patrick  Henry  "  flashed  the  elec 
tric  spark,  which  exploded  the  country  in  revolution," 
as  Burton  says  in  his  history  of  Henrico  Parish.  This 
was  the  speech  that  closed : 

"  Gentlemen  may  cry  peace,  peace,  but  there  is  no 
peace.  The  war  is  actually  begun !  The  next  gale  that 
sweeps  from  the  north  will  bring  to  our  ears  the  clash 
of  resounding  arms!  Our  brethren  are  already  in  the 
field!  Why  stand  here  idle?  What  is  it  that  gentle 
men  wish?  What  would  they  have?  Is  life  so  dear,  or 
peace  so  sweet,  as  to  be  purchased  at  the  price  of  chains 
and  slavery?  Forbid  it,  Almighty  God.  I  know  not 
what  course  others  may  take,  but  as  for  me,  Give  me 
liberty,  or  give  me  death." 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     269 

Dr.  Burton  says  that  the  orator  "  stood,  according  to 
tradition,  near  the  present  corner  of  the  east  transept 
and  the  nave,  or  more  exactly,  in  pew  47,  in  the  east 
aisle  of  the  nave.  ...  He  faced  the  eastern  wall  of  the 
transept,  where  were  the  two  windows.  In  the  more 
northern  of  these  stood  Colonel  Edward  Carrington. 
He  broke  the  silence  that  followed  the  orator's  burning 
words  with  the  exclamation,  <  Right  here  I  wish  to  be 
buried!'" 

When  the  British  took  possession  of  Richmond  in 
1781,  St.  John's  Church  became  a  barracks  for  Arnold's 
men.  And  some  of  them  stood  on  the  spot  where 
Patrick  Henry  spoke  the  words  that  had  such  large  part 
in  stirring  up  the  people  to  drive  all  British  soldiers 
from  the  Colonies. 

After  the  close  of  the  war  the  diocese  of  Virginia  was 
reorganized  in  the  building,  and  plans  were  laid  to  over 
come  the  difficulties  that  would  soon  come  through  the 
loss  of  the  property  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
which  led  Edmund  Randolph,  later  Governor  of  Vir 
ginia  and  Secretary  of  State  in  Washington's  Cabinet,  to 
speak  the  famous  words : 

"  Of  what  is  the  Church  now  possessed?  Nothing  but 
the  glebes  and  your  affections." 

That  the  affections  of  the  people  are  a  better  depend 
ence  than  rich  endowments  in  money  has  been  shown 
by  the  later  history  of  the  church,  the  parish,  and  the 
diocese. 


270        HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 


LIX 


THE  NELSON  HOUSE  AND  THE  MOORE  HOUSE, 
YORKTOWN,  VIRGINIA 

MADE  MEMORABLE  BY  THE  BATTLE  OF  YORKTOWN  AND  THE 
SURRENDER  OF  CORNWALLIS 

One  day  in  1740  a  baby  a  little  more  than  one  year 
old,  whose  name  was  Thomas  Nelson,  stood  by  the  side 
of  his  father,  William  Nelson,  as  the  father  was  about 
to  lay  the  foundation  of  his  new  home  in  York,  Virginia. 
The  babe  had  been  stationed  there  that  the  brick  for  the 
corner  might  be  placed  in  the  little  hands ;  then  it  could 
be  said  in  later  years  that  the  babe  had  helped  in  the 
exercises  of  the  day.  The  little  fellow  became  a  Signer 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  a  General  in  the 
Revolutionary  War,  and  Governor  of  Virginia. 

William  Nelson  was  a  merchant,  who  had  invested  his 
savings  in  land  and  had  become  quite  wealthy.  When 
his  son  was  fourteen  years  old  he  was  able  to  send  him 
to  Cambridge,  England,  to  be  educated.  Nine  years 
later  the  young  man  married  Lucy  Grymes  of  Brandon, 
and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  house  whose  foundation 
he  had  helped  to  lay. 

For  many  years  the  home  of  the  young  people  was 
noted  for  the  hospitality  shown  there.  Whenever  the 
owner  could  leave  his  guests,  he  rode  to  his  plantation 
near  town.  He  kept  a  pack  of  hounds,  which  were  fre 
quently  employed  in  fox  hunting. 

When  discontent  against  England  became  pro 
nounced,  he  was  a  leader  of  the  patriots.  He  was  a 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     271 

member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses  of  1774  which  was 
dissolved  by  Lord  Duninore  because  of  the  passage  of  a 
resolution  against  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  and  he  was  one 
of  the  eighty-nine  men  who  met  next  day  at  a  tavern  and 
took  action  that  led  to  the  first  Continental  Congress. 

On  July  17,  when  the  Convention  of  Virginia  dele 
gates  gathered  in  Richmond  decided  to  raise  three  regi 
ments  for  home  defence,  Patrick  Henry  was  named  as 
commander  of  the  first  while  Nelson  was  put  in  charge 
of  the  second. 

He  was  among  the  patriots  who  sat  in  the  Continental 
Congress  of  1775,  1776,  and  1777,  and  his  name  was 
signed  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  On  August 
16, 1777,  he  retired  from  public  service  because  of  failing 
health,  but  when,  a  little  later,  the  Governor  of  Virginia, 
fearing  the  approach  of  the  British  fleet,  asked  him  to 
serve  as  brigadier  general  and  commander-in-chief  of  the 
forces  of  the  State,  he  agreed,  on  condition  that  he  be 
excused  from  accepting  payment  for  his  services. 

During  the  siege  of  Yorktown  he  was  at  the  head  of 
the  militia.  The  sketch  of  his  life  as  given  by  Sander 
son  in  the  "  Biography  of  the  Signers,"  says :  "  During 
the  siege,  observing  his  own  house  uninjured  by  the  artil 
lery  of  the  American  batteries  he  inquired  the  cause.  A 
respect  for  his  property,  was  assigned.  Nelson  .  .  . 
requested  that  the  artillerists  would  not  spare  his  house 
more  than  any  other,  especially  as  he  knew  it  to  be  occu 
pied  by  the  principal  officers  of  the  British  Army.  Two 
pieces  were  accordingly  pointed  against  it.  The  first 
shot  went  through  the  house  and  killed  two  ...  of 
ficers.  .  .  .  Other  balls  soon  dislodged  the  hostile 
tenants."  It  is  said  that  Nelson  gave  ten  guineas 
reward  to  the  man  who  fired  the  first  shot. 


272        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Again  Thomas  Nelson  responded  to  the  call  of  his 
State  when  in  June,  1781,  he  became  Governor,  succeed 
ing  Thomas  Jefferson.  Four  months  after  the  begin 
ning  of  his  term  as  chief  executive  of  the  State,  George 
Washington,  in  general  orders,  said: 

"  The  General  would  be  guilty  of  the  highest  ingrati 
tude,  a  crime  of  which  he  hopes  he  shall  never  be 
accused,  if  he  forgot  to  return  his  sincere  acknowledg 
ments  to  his  excellency  governor  Nelson,  for  the  suc 
cours  which  he  received  from  him  and  the  militia  under 
his  command,  to  whose  activity,  emulation,  and  bravery, 
the  highest  praises  are  due.  The  magnitude  of  the 
acquisition  will  be  ample  compensation  for  the  diffi 
culties  and  dangers  which  they  met  with  so  much  firm 
ness  and  patriotism." 

Nelson's  term  as  Governor  was  shortened  by  ill  health. 
In  November,  1781,  he  was  compelled  to  resign. 

But  he  was  not  permitted  to  rest.  Attacks  were  made 
on  him  for  certain  courses  taken  during  his  term  as 
Governor.  When  he  asked  and  was  given  permission  to 
defend  himself  before  the  State  delegates,  he  was  tri 
umphantly  acquitted  of  all  blame.  On  December  31, 
1781,  this  action  was  recorded : 

"An  act  to  indemnify  THOMAS  NELSON,  JUNIOR, 
Esquire,  late  governor  of  this  commonwealth,  and  to 
legalize  certain  acts  of  his  administration.  Whereas, 
upon  examination,  it  appears  that  previous  to  and  dur 
ing  the  siege  of  York,  Thomas  Nelson,  Esquire,  late  gov 
ernor  of  this  commonwealth,  was  compelled  by  the  pe 
culiar  circumstances  of  the  state  and  army,  to  perform 
many  acts  of  government  without  the  advice  of  the  coun 
cil  of  state,  for  the  purpose  of  procuring  subsistence  for 
the  allied  army  under  the  command  of  his  excellency 
general  Washington ;  be  it  enacted  that  all  such  acts  of 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS      273 

government,  evidently  productive  of  general  good,  and 
warranted  by  necessity,  be  judged  and  held  of  the  same 
validity,  and  the  like  proceedings  be  had  on  them  as  if 
they  had  been  executed  by  and  with  the  advice  of  the 
council,  and  with  all  the  formality  prescribed  by  law. 
And  be  it  enacted  that  the  said  Thomas  Nelson,  jr., 
Esquire,  be  and  he  hereby  is  in  the  fullest  manner  in 
demnified  and  exonerated  from  all  penalties  and  dangers 
which  might  have  accrued  to  him  from  the  same." 

Nelson  lived  more  than  seven  years  after  this  act 
approving  his  emergency  actions.  But  three  years  were 
spent  in  comparative  poverty.  Most  of  his  property  was 
sold  to  satisfy  the  debts  incurred  by  paying  two  regi 
ments  out  of  his  own  pocket,  and  by  going  security,  with 
the  State,  for  two  million  dollars  needed  to  carry  on  the 
war.  Sanderson  says  of  these  acts  of  generosity : 

"  He  had  spent  a  princely  fortune  in  his  country's 
service ;  his  horses  had  been  taken  from  the  plough,  and 
sent  to  drag  the  munitions  of  war;  his  granaries  had 
been  thrown  open  to  a  starving  soldiery,  and  his  ample 
purse  had  been  drained  to  its  last  dollar,  when  the  credit 
of  Virginia  could  not  bring  a  sixpence  into  her  treasury. 
Yet  it  was  the  widow  of  this  man  wrho,  beyond  eighty 
years  of  age,  blind,  infirm,  and  poor,  had  yet  to  learn 
whether  republics  can  be  grateful." 

On  the  simple  gravestone  in  Yorktown,  erected  to  the 
memory  of  the  patriot,  is  this  eloquent  inscription : 

Thomas  Nelson, 

Governor  of  Virginia. 

He  Gave  All  for  Liberty. 

Not  far  from  the  grave  is  another  historic  house  that 
should  be  named  with  the  Nelson  house.  This  is  the 


274        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Moore  house,  on  Temple  farm,  then  less  than  a  mile  from 
Yorktown.  In  this  house,  which  was  built  in  1713,  the 
terms  of  the  surrender  of  Cornwallis  were  drawn  up. 
It  was  once  the  summer  home  of  the  colonial  governor, 
Alexander  Spottswood. 


LX 


THE  JOHN  MARSHALL  HOUSE,  RICHMOND, 
VIRGINIA 

""WHERE  THE  CHIEF  JUSTICE  CARED  FOR  HIS  WIFE  AND 
ENTERTAINED  HIS  FRIENDS 

An  old  book,  "  Richmond  in  By  Gone  Days,"  says  that 
John  Marshall  was  noted  in  Richmond  for  his  unpre 
tending  manner.  "  His  dress  was  plain  even  to  negli 
gence.  He  marketed  for  himself  and  might  be  seen  at 
an  early  hour  returning  home  with  a  pair  of  fowls,  or 
a  basket  of  eggs  in  his  hand,  not  with  ostentatious  hu 
mility,  but  for  mere  convenience." 

It  is  related  by  Flanders  that  Marshall  "  was  one 
morning  strolling  through  the  streets  of  Richmond,  at 
tired  in  a  plain  linen  roundabout  and  shorts,  with  his 
hat  under  his  arm,  from  which  he  was  eating  cherries, 
when  he  stopped  in  the  porch  of  the  Eagle  Hotel,  in 
dulged  in  some  little  pleasantry  with  the  landlord,  and 
then  passed  on."  Just  then  a  man  from  the  country, 
who  wished  a  lawyer  to  appear  for  him  in  court,  was 
referred  by  the  landlord  to  Marshall,  as  the  best  advo 
cate  he  could  have,  but  the  countryman  declined  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  careless  young  man.  In  court 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     275 

he  asked  the  clerk  for  a  lawyer,  and  was  once  more 
recommended  to  take  John  Marshall.  Again  he  re 
fused.  Just  then  a  dignified  old  man  in  powdered  wig 
and  black  coat  entered.  He  was  at  once  engaged,  on 
his  appearance.  After  a  time  the  inferiority  of  the 
black-coated  lawyer  was  so  apparent  that  the  country 
man  sought  Marshall,  told  him  of  the  mistake  he  had 
made,  said  that  he  had  left  but  five  dollars  of  the  one 
hundred  dollars  he  had  set  aside  for  lawyers'  fees,  and 
asked  Marshall  if  he  would  assist  on  the  case.  The 
lawyer  laughingly  agreed. 

In  1781,  when  Marshall  was  twenty-five  years  old,  he 
walked  from  Virginia  to  Philadelphia,  to  be  inoculated 
for  smallpox.  "  He  walked  at  the  rate  of  thirty-five 
miles  a  day.  On  his  arrival,  such  was  his  shabby  ap 
pearance,  that  he  was  refused  admission  into  one  of 
the  hotels ;  his  long  beard,  and  worn-out  garments,  prob 
ably  suggesting  the  idea  that  his  purse  was  not  adequate 
to  his  entertainment.  And  this  in  the  city  which  had 
seen  much  of  the  young  man's  heroic  services  during  the 
Revolution ! " 

Before  the  close  of  the  war,  while  visiting  his  father, 
Colonel  Marshall,  who  was  the  commanding  officer  at 
Yorktown,  Virginia,  he  met  Mary  Willis  Ambler,  a 
daughter  of  Jacqueline  Ambler,  the  treasurer  of  Vir 
ginia.  "  She  was  just  fourteen  years  of  age  at  the  time, 
and  it  is  stated  to  have  been  a  case  of  love  at  first  sight." 
Even  when  Marshall  called  to  see  her  he  was  not  prepos 
sessing  in  appearance,  yet  he  was  well  rceived,  "  not 
withstanding  his  slouched  hat,  and  negligent  and  awk 
ward  dress,"  for  his  amiable  manners,  fine  talents,  and 
especially  his  love  for  poetry,  which  he  read  to  them 
with  deep  pathos,  led  them  to  forget  his  dress. 


276   HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS 

The  young  people  were  married  on  January  3,  1783. 
After  paying  the  fee  of  the  minister,  the  groom's  sole 
remaining  fortune  was  a  guinea! 

Mrs.  Marshall  was  for  many  years  a  nervous  invalid. 
Bishop  Meade  says,  "  The  least  noise  was  sometimes 
agony  to  her  whole  frame,  and  his  perpetual  endeavor 
was  to  keep  the  house  and  yard  and  out-houses  from  the 
slightest  cause  of  distressing  her;  walking  himself  at 
times  about  the  house  and  yard  without  shoes."  The 
attitude  of  the  people  of  Richmond  to  the  husband  and 
wife  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  "  on  one  occasion,  when 
she  was  in  her  most  distressing  state,  the  town  authori 
ties  manifested  their  great  respect  for  him  and  sympathy 
for  her,  by  having  either  the  town  clock  or  town  bell 
muffled." 

On  his  marriage  John  Marshall  took  his  wife  to  one 
of  the  best  houses  then  available  in  the  village  of  Rich 
mond,  a  two-room  frame  building.  In  1789  he  bought 
two  acres  of  ground  on  Shockoe  Hill,  and  here,  in  1793, 
he  built  a  nine-room  brick  house.  One  of  the  rooms  was 
a  large  apartment,  in  which  he  gave  his  famous  "  law 
yer  dinners." 

When  Marshall  was  not  in  Washington,  he  lived  in 
this  comfortable  house,  which  was  near  the  home  of  his 
father-in-law.  He  had  also  a  farm  a  few  miles  from 
Richmond.  Bishop  Meade  says  that  one  morning,  be 
tween  daybreak  and  sunrise,  he  met  Marshall  on  horse 
back.  He  had  a  bag  of  clover  seed  lying  before  him, 
which  he  was  carrying  to  his  farm. 

An  English  traveller  who  spent  a  week  in  Richmond 
in  1835  gave  his  impression  of  the  Richmond  home: 

"  The  house  is  small,  and  more  humble  in  appearance 
than  those  of  the  average  of  successful  lawyers  and  mer- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     277 

chants.  I  called  there  three  times  upon  him;  there  is 
no  bell  to  the  door.  Once  I  turned  the  handle  of  it  and 
walked  in  unannounced;  on  the  other  two  occasions  he 
had  seen  me  coming,  and  had  lifted  the  latch  and  re 
ceived  me  at  the  door,  although  he  was  at  the  time  suf 
fering  from  severe  contusions  received  in  the  stage  while 
travelling  on  the  road  from  Fredericksburg  to  Rich 
mond." 

Chief  Justice  Marshall  frequently  attended  the  Monu 
mental  Church.  The  narrow  pews  troubled  him,  for  he 
was  quite  tall.  "  Not  finding  room  enough  for  his  whole 
body  within  the  pew,  he  used  to  take  his  seat  nearest  the 
door  of  his  pew,  and,  throwing  it  open,  let  his  legs 
stretch  a  little  into  the  aisle." 

The  death  of  his  wife  was  a  great  grief  to  him. 
"  Never  can  I  cease  to  feel  the  loss  and  to  deplore  it," 
he  wrote  on  December  25,  1832,  the  anniversary  of  her 
death.  "  Grief  for  her  is  too  sacred  ever  to  be  profaned 
on  this  day,  which  shall  be,  during  my  existence,  marked 
by  a  recollection  of  her  virtues." 

He  survived  Mrs.  Marshall  less  than  five  years.  In 
June,  1835,  he  went  to  Dr.  Physic  in  Philadelphia,  seek 
ing  relief  for  a  disability  that  had  been  aggravated  by 
the  road  accident  of  which  the  English  visitor  wrote,  as 
already  quoted.  There  he  died,  July  6,  1835.  On  July 
4  he  wrote  the  inscription  which  he  wished  placed  above 
his  grave : 

"  John  Marshall,  son  of  Thomas  and  Mary  Marshall, 
was  born  on  the  24th  of  September,  1755,  intermarried 
with  Mary  Willis  Ambler  the  3rd  of  January,  1783,  de 
parted  this  life  the  day  of  18  ." 

The  Marshall  house  is  now  in  possession  of  the  Society 
for  the  Preservation  of  Virginia  Antiquities,  having 


278        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

been  purchased  a  few  years  ago  from  the  Misses  Harvie, 
the  granddaughters  of  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  They 
had  lived  in  the  house  until  they  sold  it  to  the  city  of 
Richmond. 


LXI 

FIVE  OLD  HOUSES  OF  TIDEWATER,  VIRGINIA 

SABINE  HALL,  WESTOVER,  SHIRLEY,  BRANDON,  AND 
CARTER'S  GROVE 

The  five  houses  mentioned  briefly  in  this  chapter  are 
noteworthy,  not  only  because  of  their  beauty,  but  be 
cause  the  stories  of  those  who  lived  in  them  show  how 
the  leading  families  of  old  Virginia  intermarried  until 
the  various  relationships  became  a  puzzle  that  delights 
the  genealogist. 

On  the  Rappahannock,  in  Richmond  County,  Vir 
ginia,  Landon  Carter,  son  of  Robert  ( "  King  " )  Carter, 
the  ancestor  of  the  Carter  family  of  Virginia,  built 
Sabine  Hall  in  1730.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  the  works 
of  Horace,  and  it  was  quite  natural  that  he  should  adopt 
for  his  mansion  the  name  of  the  Roman  poet's  Sabine 
Farm. 

Until  his  death  in  1778  he  was  a  recognized  leader  in 
both  Church  and  State.  Robert  A.  Lancaster  quotes  an 
unnamed  writer  who  says  that  he  was  "  a  high-minded 
public  servant  and  a  finished  scholar,  indulging  a  taste 
for  science  and  a  love  for  letters,"  and  was  considered 
"  one  of  the  most  notable  of  the  pre-Revolutionary  states 
men  of  the  Colony,''  and  was  "looked  up  to  by  the 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     279 

younger  generation  as  a  Nestor  among  his  compatriots." 
He  was  a  friend  of  Washington,  and  received  many  let 
ters  from  him,  some  of  which  have  been  preserved. 

Landon  Carter's  second  wife  was  Maria  Byrd,  of 
Westover.  Her  portrait,  as  well  as  those  of  the  other 
two  wives,  the  husband  and  "  King  "  Carter,  are  hanging 
to-day  on  the  walls  of  Sabine  Hall.  The  estate  of  four 
thousand  acres  descended  to  his  son  by  his  third  mar 
riage  with  Elizabeth  Beale,  Eobert  Wormeley  Carter, 
who  was  a  member  of  the  Virginia  Assembly.  The 
property  is  still  in  the  possession  of  the  descendants  of 
the  original  owner. 

Westover,  where  Landon  Carter  courted  Maria  Byrd, 
is  on  the  James  in  Charles  City  County,  not  far  south  of 
Sabine  Hall.  The  mansion  was  built  in  the  same  year 
as  Sabine  Hall,  1730,  by  William  Byrd,  II,  whose  father 
came  from  England  about  1674. 

William  Byrd,  of  Westover,  was  famous  as  a  literary 
man  and  as  a  statesman.  At  one  time  he  was  President 
of  His  Majesty's  Council.  But  perhaps  his  greatest 
fame  came  to  him  because  he  was  the  father  of  Evelyn 
Byrd,  who  was  a  reigning  belle.  When,  at  the  age  of 
eighteen,  she  was  presented  at  Court,  it  was  reported 
that  the  king  of  England  complimented  her  by  saying 
he  was  glad  Virginia  could  produce  such  "  beautiful 
Byrds." 

Evelyn's  brother,  William  Byrd,  III,  was  the  heir  of 
the  estate.  He  married  Elizabeth  Hill  Carter,  of  Shir 
ley,  a  neighboring  estate.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Virginia  Council  and  attained  distinction  by  his  service 
as  a  colonel  in  the  French  and  Indian  War. 

During  the  siege  of  Yorktown  some  of  the  French  of 
ficers  made  frequent  visits  to  Westover.  One  of  them, 


280        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Marquis  de  Chastellux,  said  that  this  was  the  most  beau 
tiful  place  in  America. 

Two  armies  have  halted  at  Westover.  In  April,  1781, 
Cornwallis  passed  that  way,  and,  during  the  Civil  War 
McClellan's  army  camped  on  the  grounds.  A  war-time 
picture  shows  something  of  the  havoc  wrought  by  the 
soldiers. 

When  Elizabeth  Hill  Carter,  of  Shirley,  came  to  West- 
over,  she  gave  up  one  beautiful  home  for  another.  Her 
father's  Charles  City  County  mansion  was  probably 
built  late  in  the  seventeenth  century,  though  the  exact 
date  is  not  known.  One  of  the  estate's  claims  to  distinc 
tion  is  that  it  has  never  been  offered  for  sale.  Colonel 
Edward  Hill,  the  builder,  Colonel  Edward  Hill,  II,  his 
son,  and  Colonel  Edward  Hill,  III,  his  grandson,  were 
leaders  in  the  life  of  the  county.  At  the  death  of 
Colonel  Hill7  III,  his  sister,  Elizabeth  Hill,  became  heir 
to  the  estate.  She  married  John  Carter,  of  Corotoman, 
son  of  Robert  ( "  King  " )  Carter,  who  was  Secretary  of 
the  Colony.  It  was  his  daughter  who  married  William 
Byrd,  III,  of  Westover.  Her  brother,  Charles  Carter, 
who  was  a  patriot  of  prominence,  was  the  father-in-law 
of  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee,  and  the  grandfather  of  Gen 
eral  Robert  E.  Lee. 

Carter's  Grove,  another  seat  of  the  Carter  family,  is 
also  on  the  James,  in  Charles  City  County,  not  far  from 
Shirley.  The  builder  was  Carter  Burwell,  and  the  house 
dates  from  1751.  The  work  was  done  by  slaves,  under 
the  direction  of  a  foreman  who  received  £140  for  his 
work.  In  the  construction  of  the  house  25,000  feet  of 
lumber,  40,000  shingles,  15,000  laths,  and  460,000  bricks 
were  used.  The  total  cost  was  only  £500. 

Carter  Burwell  was  the  son  of  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     281 

Robert  ( "  King " )  Carter,  who  married  Colonel  Na 
thaniel  Burwell. 

Across  the  James,  in  Prince  George  County,  is  Bran 
don,  whose  builder  was  Nathaniel  Harrison.  The 
house  dates  from  early  in  the  eighteenth  century.  His 
son,  also  Nathaniel  Harrison,  married,  as  his  second 
wife,  Lucy  the  daughter  of  Robert  ("  King")  Carter  of 
Corotoman.  Benjamin  Harrison,  the  son  by  the  first 
wife,  Mary  Digges,  married  Evelyn  Taylor  Byrd,  of 
Westover.  When  she  went  to  Brandon  she  took  with 
her  the  Byrd  portraits,  which  are  to-day  one  of  the  at 
tractions  of  the  mansion. 

Brandon  has  always  been  in  the  possession  of  descend 
ants  of  the  original  owner. 


LXII 
GUNSTON  HALL,  VIRGINIA 

THE  HOME  OF  GEORGE  MASON,  "  THE  PEN  OF  THE 
REVOLUTION  IN  VIRGINIA" 

Four  miles  from  Mt.  Vernon,  on  the  Potomac,  is 
the  well-preserved  mansion,  Gunston  Hall,  built  in  1758 
by  George  Mason,  the  great-grandson  of  George  Mason, 
who  fled  to  America  after  the  Battle  of  Worcester,  where 
he  was  in  arms  against  the  king  of  England.  The  first 
mention  of  the  name  of  this  George  Mason  occurs  in  the 
Virginia  patent  of  land  which  he  secured  in  March,  1655. 

George  Washington  and  George  Mason  were  not  only 
near  neighbors,  but  they  were  warm  friends.  Fre- 


282        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

quently  Washington  drove  to  Gunston  Hall  for  a  talk 
with  Mason;  or  sometimes  he  floated  down  the  stream 
in  his  four-oared  gig,  manned  by  his  own  slaves.  Some 
times  the  men  roamed  together  through  the  woods  or 
the  fields;  on  one  of  these  walks  they  sought  to  define 
the  boundaries  between  their  estates. 

Gifts  of  various  kinds  passed  back  and  forth  be 
tween  the  two  manors;  one  day  in  1785,  when  Mason 
was  driven  from  Mt.  Vernon  in  Washington's  carriage, 
he  sent  back  by  the  driver  some  young  shoots  of  the  Per 
sian  jessamine  and  Guelder  rose. 

A  few  days  later  a  hogshead  of  cider  was  broached  at 
Gunston  Hall,  and  a  liberal  sample  was  sent  to  Wash 
ington.  A  note  dated  "  9th  November,  1785,"  addressed 
to  Washington,  begins,  "  The  bearer  waits  on  you  with 
a  side  of  venison  (the  first  we  have  killed  this  season), 
which  I  beg  your  acceptance  of." 

At  one  time  both  Washington  and  Mason  were  mem 
bers  of  the  vestry  of  Truro  parish.  Washington's  list 
of  the  vestrymen  shows  that  his  friend  was  elected  by 
two  hundred  and  eighty- two  votes,  while  he  himself  re 
ceived  but  fifty-one  votes. 

Mason  was  as  often  at  Mt.  Vernon  as  Washington  was 
at  Gunston  Hall.  After  a  visit  made  on  Christmas  Day, 
1783,  one  of  the  other  guests,  Miss  Lewis,  of  Fredericks- 
burg,  wrote: 

"  Among  the  most  notable  of  the  callers  was  Mr. 
George  Mason,  of  Gunston  Hall,  who  was  on  his  way 
home  from  Alexandria,  and  who  brought  a  charming 
granddaughter  with  him.  .  .  .  He  is  said  to  be  one 
of  the  greatest  statesmen  and  wisest  men  in  Virginia. 
We  had  heard  much  of  him  and  were  delighted  to  look 
in  his  face,  hear  him  speak,  and  take  his  hand,  which  he 


WESTOVER  ON  THE  JAMES,  VIRGINIA 


m 
• 


•H  11.  P.  Cook 
See  page  278 


GUNSTON  HALL  ON  THE  POTOMAC,  VIRGINIA 


Photo  by  H.  P.  Cook 
See  page  281 


WASHINGTON  COLLEGE  BUILDING,  LEXINGTON,  VA. 


Photo  bii  Ph.B.  Wallace 
See  page  285 


1WUTON  PARISH  CHURCH,    WILLIAMSBURG,   VA. 


Photo  by  H.  P.  Cook 
See  page  288 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     283 

offered  in  a  courtly  manner.    He  is  slight  in  figure,  but 
not  tall,  and  has  a  grand  head  and  clear  gray  eyes." 

To  the  home  of  George  Mason  other  men  of  note 
delighted  to  come.  In  the  guest  room  Jefferson  and 
Eichard  Henry  Lee,  as  well  as  Washington,  slept  more 
than  once.  Patrick  Henry,  too,  was  a  welcome  visitor 
at  Gunston  Hall.  George  Mason  had  as  high  an  opin 
ion  of  the  orator  as  Patrick  Henry  had  of  the  states 
man.  "  He  is  by  far  the  most  powerful  speaker  I  ever 
heard,"  Mason  once  said  of  Henry ;  "  every  word  he 
says  not  only  engages  but  commands  the  attention ;  and 
your  passions  are  no  longer  your  own  when  he  addresses 
them.  But  his  eloquence  is  the  smallest  part  of  his 
merit.  He  is  in  my  opinion  the  first  man  upon  this  con 
tinent,  as  well  in  abilities  as  public  virtues,  and  had  he 
lived  in  Rome  about  the  time  of  the  first  Punic  War, 
when  the  Roman  people  had  arrived  at  their  meridian 
glory  and  their  virtue  not  tarnished,  Mr.  Henry's  talents 
must  have  put  him  at  the  head  of  that  glorious  common 
wealth." 

The  orator  returned  the  compliment  by  calling  Mason 
one  of  the  two  greatest  statesmen  he  ever  knew. 

George  Mason's  statesmanlike  vision  was  seen  in 
1766,  when  he  warned  the  British  public  of  the  results 
that  would  follow  coercion.  "  Three  millions  of  people 
driven  to  desperation  are  not  an  object  of  contempt,"  he 
wrote.  Again  he  proved  a  good  prophet  when  he  wrote 
to  George  Washington,  on  April  2,  1776,  after  the  Gen 
eral  took  possession  of  Boston : 

"  I  congratulate  you  most  heartily  upon  this  glorious 
and  important  event — an  event  which  will  render  George 
Washington's  name  immortal  in  the  annals  of  America, 


284        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

endear  his  memory  to  the  latest  posterity,  and  entitle 
him  to  those  thanks  which  heaven  appointed  as  the  re 
ward  of  public  virtue." 

Mason  was  of  a  retiring  disposition,  and  he  would 
have  preferred  to  remain  at  home.  But  he  was  forced 
into  the  councils  of  the  Virginia  Convention,  and  during 
his  service  there  he  prepared  the  marvellous  Bill  of 
Rights  which  was  later  made  a  part  of  the  Constitution 
of  that  State  and  was  the  model  for  similar  documents 
in  many  other  States.  He  was  also  the  author  of  the 
Constitution  of  Virginia,  and  the  designer  of  the  State 
seal.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Constitutional  Conven 
tion  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  proved  himself  "  the 
champion  of  the  State  and  the  author  of  the  doctrine 
of  State  Rights."  Because  the  Constitution  as  finally 
drafted  by  the  convention  contained  so  many  provisions 
that  he  felt  were  dangerous,  he  refused  to  sign  the  docu 
ment,  "  declaring  that  he  would  sooner  chop  off  his 
right  hand  than  put  it  to  the  Constitution  "  whose  pro 
visions  he  could  not  approve. 

After  the  Constitutional  Convention  for  more  than 
four  years  the  statesman  lived  quietly  at  Gunston  Hall. 
When  he  died  in  October,  1792,  he  asked  to  be  buried  by 
the  side  of  his  first  wife,  whose  death  in  1773  had  been 
a  grievous  blow  to  him.  Over  her  tomb  he  had  in 
scribed  : 

"Once  She  was  all  that  cheers  and  sweetens  Life; 
The  tender  Mother,  Daughter,  Friend  and  Wife : 
Once  She  was  all  that  makes  Mankind  adore ; 
Now  view  the  Marble,  and  be  vain  no  more. ' ' 

No  monument  was  ever  raised  over  his  own  grave.  "A 
grandson  planned  to  set  a  stone  inscribed  to  "  The 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     285 

Author  of  the  Bill  of  Eights  and  the  Constitution  of 
Virginia,"  but  he  was  unable  to  do  as  he  wished. 

Gunston  Hall  still  stands,  though  it  has  passed 
through  many  hands  since  the  death  of  him  whom 
George  Esten  Cooke  called  "  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
men,  not  only  of  his  Country,  and  of  his  epoch,  but  of 
all  Countries  and  all  time." 


LXIII 

THE  WASHINGTON  COLLEGE  BUILDING, 
LEXINGTON,  VIRGINIA 

HOW  GEORGE  WASHINGTON  SOLVED  A  DELICATE  PROBLEM 

Even  before  the  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain 
was  signed,  George  Washington  was  making  plans  for 
the  development  of  the  West.  He  was  especially  im 
pressed  with  the  possibilities  of  the  Potomac  and  James 
rivers,  if  improved  by  canals,  as  a  means  of  communi 
cation  with  the  Ohio.  Companies  were  organized  to  the 
work.  In  both  enterprises  he  was  a  stockholder.  On 
August  13,  1785,  he  wrote  to  Edmund  Randolph  : 

"  The  great  object  for  the  accomplishment  of  which 
I  wish  to  see  the  inland  navigation  of  the  River  Poto- 
mack  and  James  improved  and  extended  is  to  connect 
the  western  territory  with  the  Atlantic  states.  ...  I 
have  already  subscribed  five  shares  to  the  Potomack 
navigation ;  and  enclosed  I  give  you  a  power  to  put  my 
name  down  for  five  shares  to  that  of  James  River." 

In  1785  Patrick  Henry,  Governor  of  Virginia,  wrote 
to  Washington  that  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State 


286        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OP  AMERICA 

had  voted  to  give  Mm  one  hundred  shares  in  the  James 
River  Company,  "  it  being  their  wish,  in  particular,  that 
those  great  works  of  improvement,  which,  both  as 
springing  from  the  liberty  which  he  has  been  so  instru 
mental  in  establishing,  and  as  encouraged  by  his  patron 
age,  will  be  durable  monuments  of  his  glory,  may  be 
made  monuments  also  of  the  gratitude  of  his  country." 

Washington  replied  that  he  could  not  accept  money 
for  his  services  to  his  country.  Then  he  added :  "  But 
if  it  should  please  the  General  Assembly  to  permit  me  to 
turn  the  destination  of  the  fund  vested  in  me,  from  my 
private  emolument,  to  objects  of  a  public  nature,  it  will 
be  my  study  in  selecting  these  to  prove  the  sincerity  of 
my  gratitude  for  the  honor  conferred  on  me,  by  pre 
ferring  such  as  may  appear  most  subservient  to  the  en 
lightened  and  patriotic  views  of  the  legislature." 

Of  course  the  legislature  granted  the  desired  permis 
sion,  indicating  that  the  gifts  might  be  made  either  dur 
ing  Washington's  life,  or  by  bequest. 

Some  years  passed  before  Washington  fixed  on  a 
proper  recipient  for  the  canal  shares.  In  1798,  how 
ever,  he  gave  them  to  the  trustees  of  Liberty  Academy, 
at  Lexington,  Virginia,  which  had  been  incorporated  in 
1782.  In  recognition  of  the  gift  the  trustees  asked  the 
legislature  to  change  the  name  of  the  school  to  Wash 
ington  Academy.  In  1813  the  name  was  once  more 
changed  to  Washington  College. 

This,  the  first  large  gift  received  by  the  institution,  is 
still  yielding  an  income  of  three  thousand  dollars.  Dur 
ing  many  times  of  crisis  the  income  provided  in  this  way 
has  been  of  signal  use  to  the  institution,  notably  in 
1824,  when  the  Washington  College  building  was  begun. 
This  structure  is  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  is  built 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     287 

of  brick,  and  each  of  its  three  porticoes  is  supported  by 
white  colonial  columns. 

For  more  than  seventy-five  years  after  Washington 
turned  over  the  canal  shares,  the  institution's  sole  en 
dowment  amounted  to  only  about  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand  dollars.  The  seventy  thousand  dollars 
added  to  the  canal  shares  came  from  sources  that  were 
influenced  by  Washington's  confidence  in  the  institution. 

The  beginning  of  the  larger  life  of  the  college  was 
the  election  of  General  Robert  E.  Lee  as  president.  The 
keynote  of  his  five  years  of  service  was  sounded  in  the 
letter  which  he  wrote  to  the  trustees  on  receiving  noti 
fication  of  his  election.  He  feared  that,  in  view  of  his 
military  history,  he  might  cause  harm  to  the  college. 
He  was  never  greater  than  when  he  said : 

"  I  think  it  is  the  duty  of  every  citizen,  in  the  present 
condition  of  the  country,  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  aid 
in  the  restoration  of  peace  and  harmony,  and  in  no 
way  to  oppose  the  policy  of  the  State  or  General  Gov 
ernment  directed  to  that  object.  It  is  particularly  in 
cumbent  upon  those  charged  with  the  instruction  of  the 
young  to  set  them  an  example  of  submission  to  au 
thority,  and  I  would  not  consent  to  be  the  cause  of 
animadversion  on  the  College." 

Following  the  death  of  General  Lee,  which  came  after 
five  years  of  remarkable  development  under  his  leader 
ship,  the  name  of  Washington  College  was  changed  to 
Washington  and  Lee  University,  that  it  might  continue 
forever  a  memorial  to  its  two  greatest  benefactors. 


288        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 


LXIV 

BRUTON  PARISH   CHURCH,  WILLIAMSBURG, 
VIRGINIA 

"THE  COURT  CHURCH  OF  COLONIAL  VIRGINIA" 

Jamestown  was  the  capital  of  Virginia  until  1699. 
Then  Williamsburg  became  the  seat  of  government.  Six 
years  earlier  the  latter  town  had  taken  on  some  im 
portance  because  of  the  founding  there  of  William  and 
Mary  College,  and  for  more  than  sixty  years  efforts  had 
been  made  to  persuade  the  people  to  make  their  homes 
in  the  place.  The  records  of  the  Colony  show  that  in 
1632  rewards  were  offered  to  those  who  would  locate 
in  what  seemed  a  promising  situation  for  a  town. 

The  date  of  the  building  of  the  first  church  in  Will 
iamsburg  is  not  known.  The  first  entry  in  the  vestry 
book  of  Bruton  parish  was  made  in  April,  1674,  but  the 
parish  dates  from  1658.  In  that  year  Harrop  and 
Middle  Plantation  parishes  were  united,  though  the  new 
parish  was  not  called  Bruton  for  some  time.  The  name 
was  given  because  Sir  James  Ludwell,  who  afterward 
left  a  legacy  of  twenty  pounds  to  the  parish,  was  born 
in  Bruton,  England. 

A  building  (that  it  was  not  the  first  is  shown  by  the 
mention  in  the  records  of  the  Old  Church)  was  com 
pleted  in  1683,  and  the  first  service  was  held  on  January 
6,  1684.  The  cost  was  "  £150  sterling  and  sixty  thou 
sand  pounds  of  good  sound,  marketable  sweet,  scented 
Tobacco."  The  minister,  "  Mr.  Rowland  Jones,"  was 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     289 

"  paid  annually  ye  sum  of  sixteen  thousand,  six  hundred 
and  sixty  pounds  of  Tobacco  and  Caske." 

The  removal  of  the  capital  to  Williamsburg  brought 
so  many  new  people  to  town  that  the  church  became  too 
small  for  the  congregation.  In  1701  the  parish  records 
show  that  there  was  talk  of  a  new  building. 

On  October  1,  1706,  the  vestry  decided  to  levy  a  tax 
of  twenty  thousand  pounds  of  Tobacco  as  a  beginning 
of  the  building  fund.  Four  years  later  the  members  of 
the  vestry  made  known  their  hope  that  the  House  of 
Burgesses  would  assist  in  the  expense,  which,  they 
thought,  would  be  about  five  hundred  pounds.  To  the 
Burgesses  a  message  was  sent  indicating  that  the  vestry 
"  do  not  doubt  in  the  least  but  the  House  of  Burgesses 
would  show  their  Pious  and  Generous  Spirits  by  their 
Liberall  Donation  towards  soe  Necessary  and  good  a 
worke  and  that  they  would  assure  them  to  the  best  of 
their  Judgment  they  would  appropriate  the  same  accord 
ing  to  the  true  Intent  thereof." 

The  Burgesses  offered  "  to  take  Care  of  the  wings  and 
intervening  parts,''  if  the  vestry  would  build  the  ends 
of  the  church.  They  also  agreed  to  build  the  pews  for 
the  Governor,  the  Council,  and  themselves.  With  their 
help,  the  building  was  completed  and  occupied  in  1715. 
The  tower  was  added  in  1769. 

Kev.  James  Blair,  who  was  minister  of  Bruton  parish 
at  the  time  of  the  erection  of  the  new  building,  had  been 
instrumental  in  organizing  William  and  Mary  College. 
The  early  history  of  that  institution  is  bound  up  with 
that  of  the  church.  Some  of  the  most  notable  conflicts 
between  Church  and  State  in  the  old  Colony  took  place 
during  the  years  of  Mr.  Blair's  activity.  He  died  in 
1743,  after  serving  the  church  as  minister  for  thirty- 


290        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  'AMERICA 

three  years,  William  and  Mary  College  as  President  for 
fifty  years,  and  the  Colony  as  Commissioner  for  fifty- 
three  years. 

Among  the  famous  names  on  the  vestry  rolls  are  those 
of  Henry  Tyler,  great-great-grandfather  of  President 
Tyler,  who  was  first  mentioned  on  "  The  Seaventh  day 
of  April,  1694,"  and  George  Wythe,  one  of  the  Signers 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Patrick  Henry,  and 
George  Washington  later  worshipped  with  the  congre 
gation. 

When  Virginia  was  about  to  go  to  war  with  Great 
Britain,  the  House  of  Burgesses,  on  May  24,  1774, 
ordered  that  "  the  members  of  the  House  do  attend  in 
their  places,  at  the  hour  of  ten  in  the  morning,  on  the 
first  day  of  June  next,  in  order  to  proceed  with  the 
Speaker  and  the  mace,  to  the  church,'7  for  fasting,  hu 
miliation,  and  prayer.  During  the  Revolution  the  mem 
bers  of  the  church  were  noted  for  their  loyalty  to  the 
Colonies. 

To-day  the  building  is  about  as  it  was  during  the 
troubled  days  of  the  war.  No  change  has  been  made  in 
the  exterior,  but  in  1839  the  interior  was  changed  in 
many  important  particulars.  In  1905,  however,  it  was 
restored  as  before.  The  pulpit  was  put  in  the  old  place. 
The  canopy  and  curtain  which  had  long  stood  above  the 
pew  of  Governor  Spotswood,  were  found  and  again  put 
in  position.  King  Edward  VII  gave  the  new  pulpit 
Bible,  and  President  Roosevelt  provided  the  lectern. 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     291 


LXV 

WILLIAM  AND  MARY  COLLEGE,  WILLIAMSBURG, 
VIRGINIA 

THE  ALMA  MATER  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON,  JAMES 
MONROE,  AND  JOHN  TYLER 

Three  years  before  John  Harvard  left  a  legacy  for 
the  founding  of  the  college  that  bears  his  name,  the 
first  bequest  for  public  education  made  by  a  resident 
of  Virginia  was  recorded,  though  this  was  used  for  a 
secondary  school,  rather  than  for  a  college. 

The  project  of  a  college,  proposed  in  1617  and  1618 
by  the  London  Company,  and  in  1619  at  the  first  session 
of  the  General  Assembly,  languished  until  1685,  when 
Kev.  James  Blair  came  to  the  Colony  as  a  missionary 
and  settled  in  Henrico  County,  where  it  had  been  pro 
posed  to  found  the  college  sixty-eight  years  earlier.  For 
five  years  he  brooded  over  the  need  of  a  college  and  in 
1690  he  made  to  a  convention  at  Jamestown  "  Severall 
Propositions  for  a  free  school  and  college,  to  be  humbly 
presented  to  the  consideration  of  the  next  general  as 
sembly."  Later,  by  authority  of  the  Assembly,  Dr. 
Blair  appealed  to  the  Merchants  of  London,  "  espe 
cially  such  as  train*  ck  with  Virginia,"  and  three  thou 
sand  pounds  were  pledged. 

On  the  occasion  of  Dr.  Blair's  visit  to  England  in 
1691,  he  had  an  audience  with  King  William,  at  which 
he  presented  the  petition  for  "  a  charter  to  erect  a  free 
school  and  college."  The  king  replied,  "  Sir,  I  am  glad 
that  the  Colony  is  upon  so  good  a  design,  and  will  pro- 


292        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

mote  it  to  the  best  of  my  power."  Queen  Mary  also 
showed  her  interest  in  the  college. 

To  the  endowment  in  lands  and  taxes  provided  by 
royal  order,  Dr.  Blair  secured  an  appreciable  addition 
in  an  ingenious  manner.  Learning  that,  some  time  be 
fore  his  arrival,  the  authorities  had  promised  forgive 
ness  to  pirates  who,  before  a  set  day,  should  confess  their 
crimes  and  give  up  a  portion  of  their  booty,  and  that 
three  famous  pirates  had  come  in  after  the  appointed 
day,  so  that  they  were  arrested,  he  visited  them  in  jail 
and  offered  to  use  his  influence  in  their  behalf,  if  they 
would  consent  to  give  to  the  college  a  portion  of  their 
booty.  They  gladly  agreed ;  Dr.  Blair's  efforts  were  suc 
cessful,  and  they  were  given  their  liberty  together  with 
their  treasure,  minus  the  promised  gift  to  the  Virginia 
College.  Another  much  larger  gift  was  secured  from 
the  executor  of  an  estate  which  held  money  devised  in 
definitely  for  "  pious  and  charitable  uses."  The  income 
from  this  portion  of  the  endowment  was  to  be  used  "  to 
keep  as  many  Indian  children  in  meat,  drink,  washing, 
clothes,  medicine,  books  and  education,  from  the  first 
beginning  of  letters  till  they  should  be  ready  to  receive 
orders  and  be  sent  abroad  to  convert  the  Indians." 

In  connection  with  the  charter  for  "  the  College  of 
William  and  Mary,"  which  was  dated  February  8,  1693, 
authority  was  given  to  use  the  seal  described  as  follows  : 
"  On  a  green  field  a  college  building  of  silver,  with  a 
golden  sun,  showing  half  its  orb,  rising  above  it."  This 
is  said  to  be  the  sole  instance  of  a  college,  either  English 
or  American,  which  has  a  seal  of  such  high  origin. 

Sir  Christopher  Wren,  the  designer  of  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  made  the  plan  for  the  original  building, 
which  was  to  be  two  stories  and  a  half  high,  one  hun- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     293 

dred  and  thirty-six  feet  long,  and  forty  feet  wide,  and 
with  two  wings  sixty  feet  long  and  twenty-five  feet  wide. 
In  1697  it  was  reported  to  the  governor  of  the  province 
that  the  front  and  north  side  of  the  proposed  rectangle 
had  been  completed  at  Williamsburg,  and  that  funds 
were  exhausted.  The  walls  were  more  than  three  feet 
thick  at  the  base,  and  contained  840,000  bricks,  the  prod 
uct  of  a  brickyard  nearby. 

For  some  years  subscriptions  were  paid  slowly,  and 
interest  in  the  college  languished,  but  conditions  im 
proved  when  King  William  sent  to  Governor  Nicholson 
a  proclamation  urging  him  "  Y*  you  call  upon  ye  per 
sons  y*  have  promised  to  contribute  towards  ye  main 
tenance  of  ye  sd  college,  to  pay  in  full  the  severall 
Contributions." 

The  first  of  the  disasters  that  have  visited  the  main 
building  came  in  1705,  when  the  interior  was  burned. 
The  college  was  rebuilt  on  the  old  walls,  as  was  the  case 
after  the  fire  of  1859.  Thus,  after  much  more  than  two 
hundred  years,  the  venerable  building  looks  almost  as  it 
did  when  the  first  students  entered  its  doors.  A  num 
ber  of  other  structures  have  been  erected  since,  including 
the  Brafferton  building  in  1723,  the  house  now  occupied 
by  the  president,  which  dates  from  1732,  and  the  chapel, 
begun  in  1729.  Interest  must  always  centre  about  the 
central  structure,  however. 

During  the  Revolution  the  president  was  James  Madi 
son,  second  cousin  of  the  future  President  of  the  United 
States.  The  president's  house  was  occupied  by  Corn- 
wallis  in  1781.  After  his  surrender  French  officers 
lived  there.  During  their  occupancy  the  house  was 
badly  damaged  by  fire,  but  it  was  repaired  at  the  expense 
of  the  French  Army. 


294        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Three  events  of  the  years  of  the  war  are  of  special 
moment  in  the  history  of  higher  education  in  America. 
On  December  5,  1776,  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  the 
first  intercollegiate  fraternity  in  the  United  States,  was 
organized.  On  December  4,  1779,  the  college  was  made 
a  university,  the  first  in  the  country,  and  the  same  year 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  Honor  System  of  college 
government  which  worked  such  a  revolution  in  other  col 
leges  more  than  a  century  later.  When  Thomas  Jeffer 
son,  who  was  a  student  at  William  and  Mary  in  1760-62, 
founded  the  University  of  Virginia,  the  Honor  System 
was  successfully  inaugurated  in  the  new  institution. 

Other  famous  men  who  have  been  connected  with 
William  and  Mary  included  George  Washington,  who 
was  chancellor  in  1794;  Chief  Justice  John  Marshall, 
student  in  1779 ;  Secretary  of  State  Edmund  Randolph, 
student  in  1766 ;  James  Monroe,  student  in  1775.  John 
Tyler  was  also  educated  there.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact 
that  the  presidents  who  are  responsible  for  adding  to 
the  original  territory  of  the  country  Louisiana,  Florida, 
Texas,  and  most  of  the  western  territory,  were  products 
of  William  and  Mary. 


LXVI 

THE  MONUMENTAL  CHURCH,  RICHMOND, 
VIRGINIA 

ON  THE  SITE  OF  A  THEATRE  WHOSE  BURNING  MOVED 
THE  ENTIRE  COUNTRY 

"Last  night  the  playhouse  in  this  city  was  crowded 
with  an  unusual  audience.  There  could  not  have  been 
less  than  600  persons  in  the  house.  Just  before  the  con- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     295 

elusion  of  the  play,  the  scenery  caught  fire,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  whole  building  was  wrapt  in  flames.  It  is 
already  ascertained  that  61  persons  were  devoured  by 
that  most  terrific  element.  The  Editor  of  this  paper 
was  in  the  house  when  the  ever-to-be-remembered,  de 
plorable  accident  occurred.  He  is  informed  that  the 
scenery  took  fire  in  the  back  part  of  the  house,  by  raising 
of  a  chandelier ;  that  the  boy,  who  was  ordered  by  some 
of  the  players  to  raise  it,  stated,  that  if  he  did  so,  the 
scenery  would  take  fire,  when  he  was  commanded  in  a 
peremptory  manner,  to  hoist  it.  The  boy  obeyed,  and 
the  fire  was  instantly  communicated  to  the  scenery." 

This  story  the  editor  of  the  Richmond  (Virginia) 
American  Standard  told  in  the  columns  of  his  paper  on 
Friday,  December  27,  1811.  He  added  the  fact  that 
among  those  who  perished  were  the  Governor  of  the 
State,  as  well  as  many  of  the  leaders  in  the  business 
and  social  life  of  the  city. 

By  order  of  the  city  council  the  remains  of  the  victims 
were  buried  on  the  site  of  the  burned  building,  which 
was  bought  for  the  purpose.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
ordered  that  "  no  person  or  persons  should  be  permitted 
for  and  during  the  time  of  four  months  ...  to  exhibit 
any  public  show  or  spectacle  .  .  .  within  the  city." 

By  ordinance  it  was  also  decreed  that  a  monument 
should  be  erected  on  the  site.  Later  it  was  suggested 
that  there  should  be  built  there,  by  public  subscription, 
"  an  edifice  to  be  set  apart  and  consecrated  for  the  wor 
ship  of  God,"  and  that  this  should  be  the  monument. 

Accordingly,  on  August  1,  1812,  the  corner  stone  of 
the  Monumental  Church  was  laid,  the  lot  having  been 
purchased  by  the  city  for  $5,000.  The  building  was 
consecrated  as  a  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  May, 
1814.  In  April,  1815,  the  subscribers  to  the  fund  for 


296        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

the  building,  who  had  organized  under  the  title,  "  The 
Association  for  building  a  Church  on  Shockoe  Hill," 
were  notified  that  one-half  of  their  subscription  money 
would  be  returned  to  them  on  application  at  the  Bank 
of  Virginia. 

In  the  middle  of  the  front  or  main  porch  of  the 
church  a  white  marble  monument  was  erected  to  the 
memory  of  the  victims  of  the  fire. 

To  the  General  Convention  of  the  Protestant  Epis 
copal  church,  which  assembled  in  Philadelphia  on  May 
18,  1814,  report  was  made  that  "  a  magnificent  church 
has  sprung  up  in  Richmond  from  the  ashes  of  the  The 
atre;  it  has  the  patronage  and  support  of  men  of  the 
greatest  talents  and  highest  rank  in  Virginia." 

Among  the  communicants  of  the  Monumental  Church 
have  been  numbered  many  of  the  most  prominent  men 
in  the  Virginia  capital,  and  men  famous  in  the  early 
history  of  the  country  were  attendants  from  time  to 
time.  In  February,  1824,  General  Lafayette  worshipped 
in  the  building. 


LXVII 

MONTPELIER,  ORANGE  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA 

THE  LIFELONG  HOME  OF  JAMES  MADISON 

James  Madison  was  born  at  the  residence  of  his 
mother's  parents,  at  Port  Conway,  Prince  George 
County,  Virginia,  but  before  long  he  was  taken  to  his 
father's  house,  Montpelier,  which  was  the  first  brick 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     297 

house  built  in  Orange  County.  And  Montpelier  con 
tinued  to  be  his  home  to  the  day  of  his  death.  Much 
of  his  life  was  spent  in  Washington,  but  his  heart  was 
always  turning  to  the  old  Virginia  plantation  where 
he  had  spent  his  boyhood,  and  he  took  advantage  of 
every  possible  opportunity  to  go  there  for  a  longer  or 
shorter  visit. 

The  distance  to  Shadwell,  where  Thomas  Jefferson 
lived  as  a  boy,  was  only  thirty  miles,  but  these  two  who 
were  to  have  such  a  large  place  in  the  early  history  of 
America,  did  not  meet  until  Madison  was  seventeen 
years  old.  Then  lost  time  was  made  up.  For  many 
years  the  road  between  Montpelier  and  the  home  of 
Jefferson  became  quite  familiar  to  the  friends. 

In  the  years  before  he  went  to  college  Madison  roamed 
at  will  over  the  twenty-five  hundred  acres  of  the  Mont 
pelier  estate.  He  walked  and  rode,  he  hunted  and 
fished,  he  learned  to  take  delight  in  the  quiet  scenery  of 
that  beautiful  Blue  Ridge  country.  His  tutor,  who  lived 
on  the  estate,  was  his  companion  on  his  expeditions. 

It  was  probably  due  to  this  outdoor  life  that  his 
health  was  so  much  better  in  Virginia  than  it  was  at 
the  College  of  New  Jersey  (Princeton  College).  Soon 
after  he  graduated  in  1771  he  returned  to  Montpelier, 
somewhat  broken  by  reason  of  overwork  and  lack  of 
exercise.  To  a  college  friend  in  Philadelphia  he  wrote 
rather  pessimistically  : 

"  I  am  too  tired  and  infirm  now  to  look  for  extraordi 
nary  things  in  this  world,  for  I  think  my  sensations  for 
many  months  have  intimated  to  me  not  to  expect  a  long 
or  a  healthy  life,  though  it  may  be  better  for  me  after 
some  time;  but  I  hardly  dare  expect  it,  and  therefore 
have  little  spirit  or  elasticity  to  set  about  anything  that 


298        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

is  difficult  in  acquiring  and  useless  in  possessing  after 
one  has  exchanged  time  for  eternity." 

He  was  right  in  thinking  that  he  was  not  to  have  a 
healthy  life,  but  he  was  wrong  in  thinking  it  was  to 
be  neither  long  nor  eventful.  For  more  than  sixty 
years  after  he  wrote  the  letter  from  which  quotation 
has  been  made,  he  was  energetic  and  devoted  in  the 
service  of  his  country.  In  May,  1776,  he  entered  the 
Virginia  Convention,  thus  beginning  the  career  that  led 
him  to  eight  years  in  the  White  House.  And  after  he 
retired  from  the  Presidency  much  of  his  time  and 
thought  was  given  to  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  During 
all  these  years  the  thought  of  his  Virginia  home  gave 
him  new  strength  in  the  midst  of  his  tasks. 

That  home  meant  more  to  him  than  ever  when,  in 
September,  1794,  he  entered  the  doors  of  Montpelier 
with  his  bride,  Dorothy  Todd,  the  young  Philadelphia 
widow  whom  he  had  married  at  Harewood,  Virginia. 

The  estate  was  still  the  property  of  Mr.  Madison's 
father,  and  both  his  father  and  mother  continued  to 
live  there.  Before  long  the  house  was  enlarged.  The 
rooms  so  long  occupied  by  the  old  people  were  made 
a  part  of  the  new  mansion. 

The  two  families  lived  together  in  perfect  harmony. 
The  father  lived  to  see  his  son  President  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  mother  was  ninety-eight  when  she  died. 
William  O.  Stoddard,  in  his  "  Life  of  James  Madison," 
says  that  "  she  kept  up  the  old-fashioned  ways  of  house 
keeping  ;  waited  upon  by  her  servants  who  grew  old  and 
faded  away  with  her.  She  divided  her  time  between 
her  Bible  and  her  knitting,  all  undisturbed  by  the  mod 
ern  hours,  the  changed  customs,  or  the  elegant  hospi- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS      299 

tality  of  the  mansion  house  itself.  She  was  a  central 
point  in  the  life  of  her  distinguished  son,  and  the  object 
of  his  most  devoted  care  to  the  end  of  her  days." 

For  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Madison,  real  life  at  Montpelier 
began  in  1817,  after  the  close  of  the  stirring  period  in 
the  White  House.  They  did  not  have  much  opportunity 
to  be  alone,  for  guests  delighted  to  come  to  them,  and 
they  liked  to  have  others  with  them,  yet  they  managed 
to  secure  a  wonderful  amount  of  joy  out  of  the  years 
spent  "  within  a  squirrel's  jump  of  heaven,"  to  use 
Dolly  Madison's  expressive  phrase. 

Among  the  guests  were  intimate  friends  like  Jeffer 
son,  who  was  almost  a  member  of  the  family.  Lafayette, 
too,  found  his  way  to  the  estate,  while  Harriet  Mar- 
tineau  told  in  her  "  Recollections  "  of  her  pleasant  so 
journ  there.  Frequently  strangers  who  were  on  the 
way  to  the  Virginia  Hot  Springs  took  the  five-mile  de 
tour  merely  to  reach  Montpelier,  and  they  were  always 
made  welcome. 

The  dining-room  was  large,  but  there  were  sometimes 
so  many  guests  that  the  table  had  to  be  set  out  of  doors. 
Mr.  Madison  wrote  in  1820  of  one  such  occasion: 
"  Yesterday  we  had  ninety  persons  to  dine  with  us  at 
our  table,  fixed  on  the  lawn,  under  a  large  arbor.  .  .  . 
Half  a  dozen  only  staid  all  night." 

After  a  visit  to  her  parents  that  was  broken  into 
by  the  presence  of  guests,  a  daughter  of  the  house  com 
plained  to  her  husband  that  she  had  not  been  able  to 
pass  one  sociable  moment  with  her  father.  His  reply 
was  sympathetic :  "  Nobody  can  ever  have  felt  so  se 
verely  as  myself  the  prostration  of  family  society  from 
the  circumstances  you  mention.  .  .  .  But  there  is  no 
remedy.  The  present  manners  and  ways  of  our  country 


300        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

are  laws  we  cannot  repeal.  They  are  altering  by  de 
grees,  and  you  will  live  to  see  the  hospitality  of  the 
country  reduced  to  the  visiting  hours  of  the  day,  and 
the  family  left  to  tranquillity  in  the  evening." 

When  the  steward  saw  that  Madison  would  not  curb 
these  guests,  he  began  to  cut  down  on  the  fodder  for 
the  horses,  but  when  the  hospitable  host  learned  of  this 
he  gave  orders  that  there  should  be  no  further  attempts 
of  this  sort.  He  realized  that  he  was  living  beyond 
his  income,  but  he  saw  no  help  for  it.  He  longed  for 
more  time  in  his  library  or  for  riding  or  walking  about 
the  estate. 

The  time  came  when  walks  had  to  be  taken  on  the 
veranda;  health  was  failing  rapidly.  He  was  not  able 
to  oversee  the  farm  as  he  had  long  been  accustomed  to 
do,  but  depended  on  others.  In  1835  Mrs.  Madison 
wrote  to  her  daughter :  "  My  days  are  devoted  to  nurs 
ing  and  comforting  my  sick  patient,  who  walks  only 
from  the  bed  in  which  he  breakfasts  to  another."  Still 
later  she  wrote :  "  I  never  leave  my  husband  more  than 
a  few  minutes  at  a  time,  and  have  not  left  the  enclosure 
around  our  house  for  the  last  eight  months." 

When  the  owner  of  Montpelier  died,  on  June  28, 1836, 
he  was  buried  in  the  cemetery  on  the  estate.  Mrs. 
Madison  spent  a  few  lonely  years  in  the  old  home,  but 
the  property  was  finally  sold  to  satisfy  the  debts  of 
her  wayward  son,  Payne  Todd.  She  was  sometimes  in 
actual  want  before  she  died,  but  Congress  provided  for 
her  relief  by  buying  for  twenty-five  thousand  dollars 
the  Madison  letters  and  other  papers. 

She  lived  until  July  12,  1849,  and  her  body  was 
finally  laid  by  the  side  of  that  of  her  husband. 

William  Dupont,  the  present  owner  of  Montpelier, 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS      301 

has  enlarged  the  house  by  the  addition  of  a  second 
story  to  the  wings.  So  the  house  that  was  built  in 
1760  by  James  Madison,  Sr.,  and  was  enlarged  by 
James  Madison,  Jr.,  has  entered  on  a  new  era  of 
hospitality. 


LXVIII 
OAK  HILL,  LOUDOUN  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA 

THE  HOME  OF  JAMES  MONROE'S  OLD  AGE 

James  Monroe,  at  twenty-eight,  wrote  from  New  York 
to  Thomas  Jefferson,  with  whom  he  had  studied  law: 

"  I  shall  leave  this  about  the  1st  of  October  for  Vir 
ginia — Fredericksburg.  Believe  me,  I  have  not  relin 
quished  the  prospect  of  being  your  neighbor.  The 
house  for  which  I  have  requested  a  plan  may  possibly 
be  erected  near  Monticello;  to  fix  there,  and  to  have 
yourself  in  particular,  with  what  friends  we  may  col 
lect  around,  for  society  is  my  chief  object;  or  rather, 
the  only  one  which  promises  to  me,  with  the  connection 
I  have  formed,  real  and  substantial  pleasure ;  if,  indeed, 
by  the  name  of  pleasure  it  may  be  called." 

The  "  connection "  of  which  the  future  President 
wrote  was  his  marriage  to  Miss  Eliza  Kortwright  of 
New  York.  Of  this  he  had  spoken  in  an  earlier  letter 
to  Jefferson: 

"  You  will  be  surprised  to  hear  that  I  have  formed 
the  most  interesting  connection  in  human  life  with  a 
young  lady  in  this  town,  as  you  know  my  plan  was  to 
visit  you  before  I  settled  myself,  but  having  formed  an 


302        HISTOEIC  SHEINES  OF  AMERICA 

attachment  to  this  young  lady  ...  I  have  found  that 
I  must  relinquish  all  other  objects  not  connected  with 
her." 

Monroe  was  not  permitted  to  practice  law  long.  As 
United  States  Senator,  diplomat,  Governor,  Cabinet 
officer,  and  President,  his  time  was  so  fully  occupied 
that  no  one  but  a  man  of  his  fine  physique  and  endur 
ance  could  have  stood  the  strain.  Once,  during  the 
War  of  1812,  according  to  his  friend,  Judge  E.  E. 
Watson,  when  the  burden  of  three  of  the  departments 
of  the  government  rested  on  him — State,  Treasury,  and 
War — he  did  not  undress  himself  for  ten  days  and 
nights,  and  was  in  the  saddle  the  greater  part  of  the 
time. 

After  some  years  he  bought  an  estate  in  Loudoun 
County,  Virginia,  to  which  he  retired  for  a  brief  rest 
whenever  this  was  possible.  For  a  time  the  old  dormer- 
windowed  house  on  the  property  satisfied  him,  but 
during  his  presidential  term  he  built  Oak  Hill,  the 
house  for  which  Jefferson  had  prepared  the  plans.  It 
is  said  that  the  nails  used  in  its  construction  were 
manufactured  on  the  Jefferson  estate. 

The  house — which  was  named  Oak  Hill  because  of 
the  oaks  on  the  lawn,  planted  by  the  owner  himself, 
one  for  each  State  of  the  Union — has  been  described  by 
Major  E.  W.  N.  Noland  as  follows : 

"  The  building  was  superintended  by  Mr.  William 
Benton,  an  Englishman,  who  occupied  the  mixed  rela 
tion  to  Mr.  Monroe  of  steward,  counsellor  and  friend. 
The  house  is  built  of  brick  in  a  most  substantial  man 
ner,  and  handsomely  finished;  it  is,  perhaps,  about 
90x50  feet,  three  stories '(including  basement),  and 
has  a  wide  portico,  fronting  south,  with  massive  Doric 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     303 

columns  thirty  feet  high,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  grove 
of  magnificent  oaks  covering  several  acres.  While  the 
location  is  not  as  commanding  as  many  others  in  that 
section,  being  in  lower  Loudoun  where  the  rolling  char 
acter  of  the  Piedmont  region  begins  to  lose  itself  in 
the  flat  lands  of  tide  water,  the  house  in  two  directions 
commands  an  attractive  and  somewhat  extensive  view, 
but  on  the  other  side  it  is  hemmed  in  by  mountains, 
for  the  local  names  of  which,  <  Bull  Run '  and  '  Nigger 
Mountain/  it  is  to  be  hoped  the  late  President  is  in  no 
wise  responsible.  .  .  .  The  little  stream  that  washes 
the  confines  of  the  Oak  Hill  estate  once  bore  the  Indian 
name  Gohongarestaw  (the  River  of  Swans),  and  is  now 
called  Goose  Creek." 

After  the  expiration  of  his  second  term  as  President 
Monroe  made  Oak  Hill  his  permanent  home,  though 
sometimes  he  was  with  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Gouverneur, 
in  New  York. 

One  who  was  a  member  of  the  household  during  a 
part  of  the  six  years  of  the  life  in  Virginia  said  that 
he  "  looked  perhaps  older  than  he  was,  his  face  being 
strongly  marked  with  the  lines  of  anxiety  and  care." 

There  were  many  guests  at  Oak  Hill,  among  these 
being  Madison  and  Jefferson.  Monroe,  in  turn,  was 
frequently  at  Monticello  and  Montpelier.  His  office 
as  Regent  of  the  University  of  Virginia  also  brought 
him  into  frequent  touch  with  his  two  predecessors  in 
the  presidency,  for  they  were  fellow-members  on  the 
Board. 

Whenever  weather  and  guests  permitted  he  was  ac 
customed  to  ride  about  the  estate  and  through  the 
countryside  both  morning  and  evening.  One  day, 
when  he  was  seventy-two,  his  horse  fell  on  him,  and 
his  right  wrist  was  sprained  so  badly  that  for  a  time 


304        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

he  could  not  write  to  his  friends,  as  he  had  delighted 
to  do.  Thus  he  was  able  to  sympathize  with  Madison 
when  a  letter  came  from  Montpelier  a  few  months  later : 

"  In  explanation  of  my  microscopic  writing,  I  must 
remark  that  the  older  I  grow  the  more  my  stiffening 
fingers  make  smaller  letters,  as  my  feet  take  shorter 
steps,  the  progress  in  both  cases  being,  at  the  same 
time,  more  fatiguing  as  well  as  more  slow." 

Monroe's  last  years  of  life  were  saddened  by  financial 
difficulties,  though  even  these  brought  gleams  of  joy, 
because  of  the  fidelity  of  his  friends.  Lafayette,  who 
visited  Oak  Hill  in  1825,  wrote  later  to  his  friend  a 
most  delicately  worded  offer  of  assistance,  indicating 
that  he  felt  it  was  his  right  to  offer  this,  since  Monroe, 
when  minister  to  France,  had  exerted  himself  to  bring 
about  the  release  of  Lafayette,  then  a  prisoner  at 
Olmutz,  and  had  ministered  to  the  wants  of  Madame 
Lafayette. 

A  measure  of  relief  came  when  Congress  voted  to 
repay,  in  part,  the  extraordinary  expense  incurred  by 
the  statesman  during  his  diplomatic  career,  but  not 
before  he  had  advertised  Oak  Hill  for  sale  and  had 
planned  to  go  to  New  York  to  live  near  his  daughter. 
The  estate  was  later  withdrawn  from  the  market,  but 
the  plan  to  go  to  New  York  was  carried  out:  he  did 
not  see  how  he  could  remain  after  the  death  of  Mrs. 
Monroe,  which  took  place  in  1830. 

He  did  not  stay  long  in  New  York.  On  July  4,  1831, 
he  died.  Twenty-seven  years  later,  on  the  one  hun 
dredth  anniversary  of  his  birth,  his  body  was  taken 
to  Richmond  for  burial.  There,  in  his  native  State, 
rest  the  remains  of  him  of  whom  Thomas  Jefferson 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     305 

said,  "  He  is  a  man  whose  soul  might  be  turned  inside 
out  without  discovering  a  blemish  to  the  world." 


LXIX 
RED  HILL,  CHARLOTTE  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA 

WHERE  PATRICK  HENRY  SPENT  HIS  LAST  YEARS 

Patrick  Henry  was  only  fifty-eight  years  old  when 
he  retired  for  rest  and  the  enjoyment  of  family  life 
to  his  2,920-acre  estate,  Red  Hill,  in  the  Staunton  Val 
ley,  thirty-eight  miles  southeast  of  Lynchburg.  Just 
before  he  made  this  move  he  wrote  to  his  daughter 
Betsy,  "  I  must  give  out  the  law,  and  plague  myself 
no  more  with  business,  sitting  down  with  what  I  have. 
For  it  will  be  sufficient  employment  to  see  after  my 
little  flock." 

He  had  served  his  country  well  for  thirty  years,  as 
member  of  the  House  of  Burgesses,  as  Speaker  of  the 
first  Continental  Congress  in  Philadelphia  in  1774,  in 
the  Virginia  Convention  of  1775  where  he  made  his 
most  famous  speech,  and  as  Governor  of  Virginia  from 
1776  to  1779  and  again  from  1784  to  1786.  He  had 
well  earned  the  rest  he  hoped  to  find.  Washington 
asked  him  to  become  Secretary  of  State  and,  later, 
Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  John  Adams 
nominated  him  as  minister  to  France.  But  he  resisted 
all  these  efforts  to  draw  him  from  his  retirement. 

The  house  at  Red  Hill  was  a  simple  story  and  a  half 
structure,  to  which  the  owner  soon  added  a  shed  kitchen, 
solely  because  he  "  wished  to  hear  the  patter  of  the 


306        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

rain  on  the  roof."  This  original  portion  of  the  house 
has  been  retained  intact  by  later  occupants,  who  have 
made  additions  with  rare  appreciation  of  what  is  fit 
ting.  The  central  portion  was  built  by  the  son  of  the 
orator,  John  Henry.  The  box  hedges  in  which  the  sage 
of  Red  Hill  took  such  delight  have  been  retained  and 
extended. 

George  Morgan,  in  "  The  True  Patrick  Henry,"  says 
that  this  life  in  retirement  "  might  be  designated  as 
a  patriarchal  life,  if  it  were  not  for  the  fact  that  the 
cradle  was  still  rocking  at  Red  Hill."  Henry's  letters 
were  full  of  references  to  his  children.  Once  he  wrote 
to  his  daughter  Betsy,  "  I  have  the  satisfaction  to  in 
form  you  that  we  are  well,  except  Johnny,  Christian, 
and  Patrick,  and  they  are  recovering  fast  now."  And 
again,  "  I  have  great  cause  of  thankfulness  for  the 
health  I  enjoy,  and  for  that  of  your  mamma  and 
all  the  children.  .  .  .  We  have  another  son,  named 
Winston." 

William  Wirt,  in  his  "  Life  of  Patrick  Henry,"  writ 
ten  in  1817,  said,  "  His  visitors  have  not  infrequently 
caught  him  lying  on  the  floor,  with  a  group  of  these 
little  ones,  climbing  over  him  in  every  direction,  or 
dancing  around  him  with  obstreperous  mirth  to  the 
tune  of  his  violin,  while  the  only  contest  seemed  to  be 
who  should  make  the  most  noise." 

That  there  were  many  visitors  who  had  the  oppor 
tunity  to  see  such  contests  as  these  is  evident  from  a 
paragraph  in  "  Homes  of  American  Statesmen  " : 

"  His  home  was  usually  filled  with  friends,  its  de 
pendences  with  their  retinue  and  horses.  But  crowds, 
besides,  came  and  went;  all  were  received  with  cordial 
ity.  .  .  .  Those  who  lived  near  always  came  to  break- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     307 

fast,  when  all  were  welcomed  and  made  full.  The 
larder  never  seemed  to  get  lean.  Breakfast  over,  crea 
ture  comforts,  such  as  might  console  the  belated  for  the 
loss,  were  promptly  set  forth  on  side-tables  in  the  wide 
entrance-hall.  .  .  .  Meanwhile,  the  master  saw  and 
welcomed  all  with  the  kindliest  attention,  asked  of  their 
household,  listened  to  their  affairs,  gave  them  his  view, 
contented  all.  These  audiences  seldom  ceased  before 
noon,  or  the  early  dinner.  To  this  a  remaining  party 
of  twenty  or  thirty  often  sat  down.  .  .  .  The  dinner 
ended,  he  betook  himself  to  his  studies  until  supper, 
after  which  he  again  gave  himself  up  to  enjoyment." 

Not  only  was  he  a  total  abstainer,  but  as  he  grew 
older  he  came  to  detest  the  odor  of  tobacco;  so  there 
were  certain  refreshments  that  were  never  offered  to 
the  guests  at  Red  Hill. 

During  the  closing  years  of  his  life  he  spent  hours 
over  the  Bible.  Every  morning  he  would  take  his  seat 
in  the  dining-room,  with  the  big  family  Bible  open  be 
fore  him.  Once  he  said  to  a  visitor,  "  This  book  is 
worth  all  the  books  that  ever  were  printed,  and  it  has 
been  my  misfortune  that  I  never  found  time  to  read  it 
with  the  proper  attention  and  feeling  till  lately.  I 
trust  in  the  mercy  of  heaven  that  it  is  not  too  late." 

To  Betsy,  a  daughter  by  his  first  marriage,  he  wrote 
in  1796 : 

"  Some  good  people  think  I  am  no  Christian.  This 
thought  gives  me  much  more  pain  than  the  appellation 
of  tory;  because  I  think  religion  of  infinitely  higher 
importance  than  politics,  and  I  find  much  cause  to  re 
proach  myself  that  I  have  lived  so  long  and  have  given 
no  decided  and  public  proof  of  my  being  a  Christian. 
But,  indeed,  my  dear  child,  there  is  a  character  which 
I  prize  far  above  all  this  world  has  or  can  boast.  And 


308        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

amongst  all  the  handsome  things  I  hear  said  of  you, 
what  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  is,  to  be  told  of 
your  piety  and  steady  virtue." 

As,  one  by  one,  the  older  children  grew  up  and  went 
out  from  Red  Hill  to  homes  of  their  own,  they  were 
urged  to  read  the  Bible.  Dorothea  was  the  first  to  be 
married.  Then  came  Martha  Catherine,  who,  at  seven 
teen,  fell  in  love  with  the  hero  who  rescued  her  when 
she  fell  from  a  boat  into  the  water.  Sarah  married 
Robert,  the  brother  of  the  poet  Thomas  Campbell.  It 
is  said  that  at  one  time  the  poet  was  engaged  to  come 
to  Red  Hill  as  tutor  for  the  younger  children  of  the 
family,  but  was  unable  to  keep  his  promise. 

Because  of  the  constant  pleas  that  were  made  that 
he  give  up  his  quiet  life  and  reenter  politics,  Henry 
Clay  wrote,  in  1796: 

"  I  shall  never  more  appear  in  a  public  character, 
unless  some  unlooked-for  circumstance  shall  demand 
from  me  a  transient  effort.  ...  I  see  with  concern  our 
old  Commander-in-chief  most  abusively  treated — nor  are 
his  long  and  great  services  remembered,  as  any  apology 
for  his  mistakes  in  an  office  to  which  he  was  totally 
unaccustomed.  If  he,  whose  character  as  our  leader 
during  the  whole  war  was  above  all  praise,  is  so  roughly 
treated  in  his  old  age,  what  may  be  expected  by  men 
of  the  common  standard  of  character?  " 

He  kept  his  resolution.  A  few  months  after  writing 
this  message,  when  notified  that  he  had  been  elected 
Governor  of  Virginia,  for  a  third  term,  he  wrote,  "  My 
declining  years  warn  me  of  my  inability." 

But  in  January,  1799,  came  an  appeal  from  Wash 
ington  himself  that  he  would  present  himself  as  a  candi- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     309 

date  "  if  not  for  Congress,  which  you  may  think  would 
take  you  too  long  from  home,  as  a  candidate  for  Repre 
sentative  in  the  General  Assembly  of  the  Common 
wealth."  The  reasons  were  given :  "  Your  insight  of 
character  and  influence  in  the  House  of  Representa 
tives  would  be  a  bulwark  against  such  dangerous  senti 
ments  as  are  delivered  there  at  present.  It  would  be 
a  rallying  point  for  the  timid,  and  an  attraction  of  the 
wavering.  In  a  word,  I  conceive  it  to  be  of  immense 
importance  at  this  crisis  that  you  should  be  there,  and 
I  would  fain  hope  that  all  minor  considerations  will 
be  made  to  yield  to  the  measure." 

Though  Henry  knew  that  he  had  little  strength  left, 
he  responded  to  the  appeal.  On  County  Court  day, 
the  first  Monday  in  March,  he  presented  himself  before 
the  people  at  Charlotte  as  a  candidate  for  Representa 
tive.  How  they  flocked  about  him! 

A  Hampdon-Sidney  student,  Henry  Miller,  who  heard 
him  that  day,  said  afterward: 

"  He  was  very  infirm,  and  seated  in  a  chair  con 
versing  with  some  friends  who  were  pouring  in  from 
all  the  surrounding  country  to  hear  him.  At  length 
he  rose  with  difficulty,  and  stood,  somewhat  bowed  with 
age  and  weakness.  His  face  was  almost  colorless. 
His  countenance  was  careworn,  and  when  he  com 
menced  his  exordium,  his  voice  was  slightly  cracked  and 
tremulous.  But  in  a  few  minutes  a  wonderful  trans 
formation  of  the  whole  man  occurred,  as  he  warmed 
with  his  theme.  He  stood  erect;  his  eyes  beamed  with 
a  light  that  was  almost  supernatural,  his  features 
glowed  with  the  hues  and  fires  of  youth;  and  his  voice 
rang  clear  and  melodious,  with  the  intonations  of  some 
great  musical  instrument  whose  notes  filled  the  area, 
and  fell  distinctly  and  delightfully  upon  the  ears  of 
the  most  distant  of  the  thousands  gathered  before  him." 


310        HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 
Near  the  close  of  this  effective  address  he  said: 

"  You  can  never  exchange  the  present  government, 
but  for  a  monarchy.  If  the  administration  have  done 
wrong,  let  us  all  go  wrong  together,  rather  than  split 
into  factions,  which  must  destroy  that  union  upon  which 
our  existence  hangs.  Let  us  preserve  our  strength  for 
the  French,  the  English,  the  German,  or  whoever  else 
shall  dare  to  invade  our  territory,  and  not  exhaust  it 
in  civil  commotion  and  intestine  wars." 

After  the  conclusion  of  the  oration,  Henry  went  back 
to  Red  Hill,  and  never  left  it  again.  In  April  he  was 
triumphantly  elected,  but  he  was  unable  to  take  his 
seat. 

On  June  6,  1799,  he  was  near  death.  When  the 
physician  offered  him  a  vial  of  mercury,  at  the  same 
time  telling  him  that  the  remedy  might  prolong  his 
life  a  little  while,  or  it  might  be  fatal,  he  drew  over 
his  eyes  a  silken  cap  which  he  usually  wore,  and,  hold 
ing  the  vial  in  his  hands,  made  "  a  simple  childlike 
prayer  for  his  family,  for  his  country,  and  for  his  own 
soul.  Afterwards  in  perfect  calm  he  swallowed  the 
medicine." 

His  last  word  was  to  his  physician,  commending  the 
Christian  religion,  which  was  so  real  a  benefit  to  a  man 
about  to  die. 

Patrick  Henry  and  his  wife  lie  side  by  side  in  the 
rear  garden  of  Red  Hill.  "  His  fame  his  best  epitaph  " 
is  the  simple  inscription  on  the  stone  above  the  patriot. 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     311 

LXX 

POHICK  CHURCH,  TRURO  PARISH,  VIRGINIA 
THE  HOME  CHURCH  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON 

Both  Truro  parish  and  George  Washington  were 
born  in  1732,  and  Washington's  connection  with  Truro 
Church  began  in  1735,  when  his  father,  Augustine 
Washington,  became  a  vestryman,  and  it  continued 
throughout  his  life,  though  during  his  later  years,  when 
services  were  seldom  held  there,  he  went  to  Christ 
Church  at  Alexandria. 

When  Washington  was  a  boy  he  had  to  make  a  round 
trip  of  eighteen  miles,  frequently  over  extremely  rough 
roads,  when  he  wished  to  attend  services.  Yet  he  was 
a  faithful  attendant,  at  all  seasons. 

A  number  of  the  early  rectors  of  Truro  were  welcome 
guests  at  Mt.  Vernon.  One  of  these,  Charles  Green, 
was  a  physician  as  well  as  a  minister,  as  appears  from 
the  record  that  he  was  called  to  prescribe  for  Washing 
ton  in  1757,  when  the  young  campaigner  was  so  seri 
ously  ill,  in  consequence  of  hardships  suffered  on  his 
western  trip,  that  he  said  he  had  "  too  much  reason  to 
apprehend  an  approaching  decay." 

Five  years  after  this  illness  Washington  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  vestry  of  the  parish,  and  he  was  re- 
elected  many  times.  His  record  for  attendance  was 
unusual,  in  spite  of  his  many  outside  engagements. 
During  the  years  from  1763  to  1774  thirty-one  vestry 
meetings  were  held.  He  was  absent  from  eight  of 
these,  once  on  account  of  sickness,  twice  because  he 


312        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

was  attending  the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  at  least 
three  times  because  he  was  out  of  the  county.  For 
a  few  months,  in  1765,  he  did  not  serve,  because,  on 
the  division  of  Truro  parish,  Mt.  Vernon  was  thrown 
over  the  line  into  the  new  Fairfax  parish.  At  once  the 
new  parish  made  him  a  member  of  its  vestry,  but  when, 
in  response  to  a  petition  which  Washington  helped  to 
present,  the  House  of  Burgesses  changed  the  parish  line 
so  that  Mt.  Vernon  was  once  more  in  Truro  parish, 
he  resumed  his  service  in  the  old  church.  There  he 
maintained  his  connection  with  an  official  body  noted 
for  the  fact  that,  at  one  time  or  another,  it  had  eleven 
members  in  the  House  of  Burgesses,  two  members  in 
His  Majesty's  Council  for  Virginia,  as  well  as  the  author 
of  the  Virginia  Bill  of  Rights  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  State  of  Virginia,  George  Mason. 

When  it  was  decided  that  a  new  church  building  was 
needed,  Washington  was  instrumental  in  settling  the 
inevitable  discussion  as  to  site  that  followed.  He  made 
a  map  of  the  parish,  showing  where  each  communicant 
lived,  and  recommended  that  the  building  be  placed* 
at  the  centre  of  the  parish,  as  shown  by  the  map.  His 
suggestion  was  adopted,  and  a  site  two  miles  nearer 
Mt.  Vernon  was  chosen. 

For  the  new  church  Washington  himself  drew  the 
plan.  He  was  also  active  in  letting  the  plan  and  over 
seeing  the  building  operation.  At  an  auction  of  pews, 
held  in  1772,  when  the  church  was  ready  for  use,  he 
bought  Number  28,  next  the  communion  table,  for  £10, 
while  he  paid  £13  10s.  for  pew  30.  Evidently  he  was 
thoughtful  for  the  guests  who  frequently  rode  with  him 
to  service,  either  in  the  coach,  or  in  the  chaise  that  fol 
lowed,  or  on  horseback.  When  the  Mt.  Vernon  con- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     313 

tingent  came  to  church  there  was  usually  quite  a  pro 
cession. 

Under  date  October  2,  1785,  the  diary  of  Washington 
tells  of  one  of  these  processions,  as  well  as  of  an  in 
teresting  event  that  followed: 

"  Went  with  Fanny  Bassett,  Burwell,  Bassett,  Doctr 
Stuart,  G.  A.  Washington,  Mr.  Shaw  and  Nellie  Custis 
to  Pohick  Church  to  hear  a  Mr.  Thompson  preach,  who 
returned  with  me  to  Dinner.  .  .  .  After  we  were  in 
Bed  (about  Eleven  o'clock  in  the  Evening)  Mr  Houdon, 
sent  from  Paris  by  Doctr  Franklin  and  Mr  Jefferson 
to  take  my  Bust,  in  behalf  of  the  State  of  Virginia  .  .  . 
arrived." 

For  many  years  Pohick  Church  was  practically  de 
serted,  but  there  is  evidence  that  services  were  held  here 
in  1802.  Davies,  an  Englishman,  in  his  "  Four  Years 
in  America,"  wrote: 

"  About  four  miles  from  Occoquon  is  Pohick.  Thither 
I  rode  on  Sunday  and  joined  the  Congregation  of  Par 
son  Weims,  who  was  cheerful  in  his  mien  that  he  might 
win  me  to  religion.  A  Virginia  churchyard  on  Sunday 
is  more  like  a  race-course  than  a  cemetery;  the  women 
come  in  carriages  and  the  men  on  horses  which  they 
tie  to  the  trees.  The  church  bell  was  suspended  from 
a  tree.  I  was  confounded  to  hear  *  steed  threaten  steed 
with  dreadful  neigh,'  nor  was  I  less  astounded  at  the 
rattling  of  carriage-wheels,  the  cracking  of  whips,  and 
the  vociferation  of  the  gentlemen  to  the  negroes  who 
attended  them;  but  the  discourse  of  Parson  Weims 
calmed  every  perturbation,  for  he  preached  the  great 
doctrines  of  Salvation  as  one  who  has  experienced  their 
power;  about  half  the  congregation  were  negroes." 

This  Parson  Weems  was  no  other  than  the  author  of 


314        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Weems'  "  Life  of  Washington,"  a  readable  but  inac 
curate  biography  that  had  a  great  vogue  seventy-five 
years  ago. 

For  many  years  Truro  Church  was  desolate,  and  relic 
hunters  made  spoil  of  the  furnishings.  But  since  1876 
it  has  been  open  for  services  once  more. 


LXXI 

MOUNT  AIRY,  RICHMOND  COUNTY,  VIRGINIA 
THE  PLANTATION  HOME  OF  COLONEL  JOHN  TAYLOE 

The  purchase  for  £500  of  three  thousand  acres  of 
productive  land  in  Charles  County,  on  the  Potomac, 
gave  a  big  boost  to  the  fortunes  of  the  Tayloe  family 
of  Virginia.  This  shrewd  purchase  was  made  by  Col 
onel  John  Tayloe,  the  son  of  William  Tayloe  (or  Tay 
lor)  who  came  from  England  in  the  seventeenth  century. 
William  Tayloe  was  a  member  of  the  House  of  Bur 
gesses  in  1710.  His  son  John  became  a  member  of 
the  Colonial  Council  in  1732,  while  his  son  John,  who 
was  born  in  1721,  also  had  the  honor  of  serving  in 
the  Council  under  Lord  Dunmore,  as  well  as  in  the 
first  Republican  Council,  during  the  administration  of 
Patrick  Henry.  He  married  the  sister  of  Governor 
George  Plater  of  Maryland.  Of  his  eight  daughters 
one  married  Richard  Lightfoot  Lee,  a  Signer  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  while  another  married 
Colonel  William  Augustine  Washington,  a  nephew  of 
George  Washington,  by  whom  he  was  educated. 

Colonel  John  Tayloe,  the  father  of  three  daughters, 


MONUMENTAL  CHURCH,   RICHMOND,  VA. 


Photo  by  II.  P.  Cook- 
See  page  294 


POHICK  CHURCH,  VIRGINIA 


•*  .*«*«wwwwra«MK«'.i 
Photo  furnished  by  Aymar  Embury,  II 
See  page  311 


MOUNT  AIRY,   RICHMOND  COUNTY,  VA. 


Photo  by  H.  P.  Cook 
See  page  314 


UNIVERSITY  OF  VIRGINIA,  CHARLOTTE.SVILLE,  VA. 


]>h«to  hi/  II.  P.  Cook 
See  page  320  J 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     315 

was  the  builder  of  Mount  Airy,  which  was  for  many 
years  the  most  superb  mansion  in  Virginia,  and  was 
so  different  from  all  other  mansions  that  it  attracted 
many  visitors,  even  in  the  days  when  transit  was  diffi 
cult.  Its  twenty-five  spacious  rooms  afforded  generous 
accommodation  for  the  guests  who  were  eager  to  accept 
the  invitations  of  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Tayloe.  Among  the 
entertainments  provided  for  these  guests  by  the  thought 
ful  hosts  were  concerts  by  a  band  made  up  entirely  of 
slaves  who  had  been  instructed  by  their  master.  On 
occasion  this  band  was  taken  to  the  town  house  a£ 
Williamsburg,  the  capital  of  the  State. 

The  letters  of  Washington  show  that  the  builder  of 
Mount  Airy  was  an  ardent  patriot,  and  his  friend  ami 
associate.  These  two  men  were  joint  executors  of  the 
estate  of  one  of  the  Lees.  From  his  headquarters  in 
the  Craigie  House  at  Cambridge  the  General  wrote  to 
Mount  Airy  a  letter  about  the  estate,  asking  Tayloe  to 
become  sole  executor. 

The  varied  interests  of  Colonel  Tayloe  were  indicated 
by  his  remarkable  will,  which  asked,  among  other 
things,  that  one  part  of  his  estate  in  Prince  William 
County,  Virginia,  and  Baltimore  County,  Maryland,  be 
kept  intact  and  worked  for  the  making  of  pig  iron. 
Not  only  did  he  own.  a  number  of  other  plantations,  but 
he  was  a  large  shipowner,  and  reaped  unusual  profits 
from  trade. 

Perhaps  the  best  known  owner  of  Mount  Airy  was 
John  Tayloe,  III,  who  was  born  in  1771,  and  was  the 
only  son  in  a  family  of  twelve.  He  was  educated  at 
Eton  and  Cambridge,  England.  Before  going  abroad 
he  had  learned  patriotism  from  his  father,  and  on  his 
return  he  was  ready  to  administer  his  estate  for  tEe 


316        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

benefit  of  the  country  as  well  as  his  own  family.  WHen. 
his  inheritance  was  turned  over  to  him  the  income  was 
sixty  thousand  dollars.  Within  a  few  years  he  in 
creased  this  to  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  His 
father's  iron-  and  ship-building  interests  were  conserved 
and  enlarged.  His  master  ship-builder  at  Occoquon 
was  his  slave  Reuben. 

During  his  residence  at  Mount  Airy  the  splendor 
of  the  mansion  was  increased.  Among  his  guests  were 
men  who  had  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  Wash 
ington  during  the  Revolution,  and  those  who  later  be 
came  prominent  as  associates  of  Hamilton,  Jay,  Mar 
shall,  and  Pinckney.  He  married  the  daughter  of 
Governor  Ogle  of  Maryland,  and  had  fifteen  children. 

The  memorial  by  one  of  his  sons,  Benjamin  Ogle 
Tayloe,  says  that  "  his  manners  were  refined  and  ele 
gant.  He  was  distinguished  for  his  nice  sense  of 
honor,  and  a  scrupulous  regard  to  his  word  at  all  times. 
His  wife  was  esteemed  for  sincerity  and  kindness  of 
heart,  graceful  and  dignified  manners,  and  true  and 
unaffected  piety." 

He  took  time  for  the  services  of  his  country.  As 
Captain  of  Dragoons  he  went  to  Western  Pennsylvania, 
to  help  put  down  the  whiskey  insurrection.  When 
President  Adams  made  him  a  Major  of  Dragoons,  Gen 
eral  Washington  wrote  to  him  a  warm  letter  of  con 
gratulation,  but  Tayloe  hesitated  to  accept  the  com 
mission.  He  had  just  been  elected  as  a  Federalist  to 
the  Virginia  Senate,  and  he  feared,  as  he  wrote  to 
Washington,  that  if  he  resigned  his  seat  the  place  would 
be  filled  by  an  opponent  of  the  administration.  On 
February  12,  1799,  Washington  replied  that  he  was 
inclined  to  believe  his  civil  service  would  be  more  im- 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     317 

portant  than  military  service,  but  lie  asked  that  de 
cision  be  delayed  until  they  could  have  a  personal 
interview.  Later,  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  War  of 
1812,  he  was  made  commander  of  the  cavalry  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  and  saw  active  service. 

Washington's  friendship  led  him  to  make  his  winter 
home  in  the  District  of  Columbia.  In  1801  he  occupied 
the  Octagon  House,  then  the  finest  private  residence 
in  the  city.  When  the  British  burned  the  White  House 
he  was  at  Mount  Airy.  At  once  he  sent  a  mounted 
messenger  to  President  Madison,  offering  the  use  of 
the  Octagon  as  the  temporary  Executive  Mansion. 

His  establishment  at  Mount  Airy  was  maintained 
in  remarkable  splendor.  His  household  and  equipages 
were  the  talk  of  the  neighborhood.  A  lover  of  fine 
horseflesh,  he  was  the  owner  of  some  of  the  swiftest 
animals  of  his  day. 

The  eldest  son,  John  Tayloe,  inherited  his  father's 
ardor  for  public  service.  He  was  engaged  brilliantly 
in  the  battles  of  the  Constitution  with  the  Guerriere, 
and  with  the  Cyano  and  the  Levant.  After  the  action 
his  native  State  gave  him  a  sword,  and  he  was  pro 
moted  to  a  lieutenancy.  Though  he  was  captured  by 
the  British,  he  lived  to  return  to  Mount  Airy,  where 
he  died  in  1824.  His  father  died  four  years  later,  while 
his  mother  lived  until  1855. 

Mount  Airy  has  always  been  in  the  hands  of  a  Tayloe. 
It  is  now  in  possession  of  the  family  of  the  late  Henry 
Tayloe. 


318        HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA! 

LXXII 

TWO  OF  VIRGINIA'S  OLDEST  CHURCH  BUILDINGS 

ST.  LUKE'S,  IN  SMITHFIELD,  AND  ST.  PETER'S,  IN 
NEW  KENT  COUNTY     , 

Captain  Smith  in  1607  wrote  of  his  discovery  of  the 
Indian  kingdom  of  Warrosquoyacke.  Soon  settlers 
were  attracted  to  its  fertile  lands.  Twenty-seven  years 
later  the  more  than  five  hundred  residents  were  or 
ganized  into  Isle  of  Wight  County. 

In  1632,  the  ancient  brick  church  near  Smithfield 
was  built.  The  tradition  fixing  this  date  was  estab 
lished  in  1887,  when  the  date  1632  was  read  in  some 
bricks  that  fell  from  the  walls. 

The  builder  of  the  staunch  church  was  Joseph  Bridger, 
who  was  Counsellor  of  State  to  Charles  II.  He  is 
buried  not  far  from  the  church,  and  on  his  tomb  is 
the  inscription :  "  He  dyed  April  15  Anno  Domini  1688 
Aged  58  years.  Mournfully  leaving  his  wife,  three 
sons  and  four  daughters." 

The  oldest  vestry  book  dates  from  1727,  for  the  first 
book  was  destroyed  at  the  time  of  General  Arnold's 
expedition  made  to  Isle  of  Wight  County,  in  the  effort 
to  capture  General  Parker,  of  the  Continental  Army. 
Fortunately,  however,  a  few  other  records  were  saved. 
An  entry  in  1727  spoke  of  "  The  Old  Brick  Church  " ; 
evidently  the  name  St.  Luke's  was  of  later  origin. 

The  architectural  beauty  of  the  old  building  is  de 
scribed  in  a  pleasing  manner  by  Aymar  Embury,  II, 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     319 

the  well-known   New  York  architect,   in  his  "  Early 
American  Churches  " : 


"  The  building  is  an  extremely  picturesque  brick 
church,  reminiscent  not  of  the  Renaissance  work  then 
becoming  dominant  in  England,  but  of  the  older  Gothic ; 
it  is  not  at  all  unlike  many  of  the  small  English  parish 
churches  of  the  sixteenth  century,  when  the  Gothic  style 
was  really  extinct,  although  its  superficial  character 
istics,  the  buttresses  and  the  pointed  arch,  still  ob 
tained.  The  stepped  gable  at  the  chancel  end  of  the 
church  is  an  unusual  feature  in  English  architecture. 
.  .  .  The  tower  is  the  only  part  of  the  building  which 
shows  the  Renaissance  influence." 

When  the  building  was  some  two  hundred  years  old 
it  began  to  fall  into  disrepair;  the  people  preferred  to 
attend  the  church  in  Smithfield.  Bishop  Meade  wrote 
his  "  Old  Churches  and  Families  of  Virginia  "  at  the 
time  when  the  old  church  was  most  dilapidated.  He 
said: 

"  Its  thick  walls  and  high  tower,  like  that  of  some 
English  castle,  are  still  firm,  and  promise  to  be  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  The  windows,  doors,  and  all  the 
interior,  are  gone.  It  is  said  that  the  eastern  window — 
twenty-five  feet  high — was  of  stained  glass.  This  ven 
erable  building  stands  not  far  from  the  main  road  lead 
ing  from  Smithfield  to  Suffolk,  in  an  open  tract  of 
woodland.  The  trees  for  some  distance  round  it  are 
large  and  tall  and  the  foliage  dense,  so  that  but  little 
of  the  light  of  the  sun  is  thrown  upon  it.  The  pillars 
which  strengthen  the  walls,  and  which  are  wide  at  the 
base,  tapering  toward  the  eaves  of  the  house  by  stair 
steps,  have  somewhat  mouldered,  so  as  to  allow  various 
shrubs  and  small  trees  to  root  themselves  therein." 


320        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

For  nearly  fifty  years  the  church  was  closed.  But 
in  1884  Rev.  David  Barr,  who  was  in  charge  of  a  church 
nearby,  began  to  raise  funds  for  the  reconstruction 
of  the  building.  He  persisted  in  spite  of  many  dis 
couragements.  When  matters  looked  darkest  a  man 
who  signed  himself  "  A  Virginian  "  made  the  following 
appeal : 

"  There  is  still  some  plastering  to  be  done  in  the 
tower,  and  the  pews  are  to  be  made  or  bought.  The 
church  cannot  be  completed  until  the  money  is  raised. 
Can  no  generous  giver  be  found  who  will  contribute  the 
money  necessary  to  bring  the  east  window  from  Lon 
don?  .  .  .  For  sixty  odd  years  the  church  has  stood 
there  silent,  without  a  service,  facing  and  defying 
storms  and  decay,  appealing  in  its  desolation  to  every 
sentiment  of  the  State,  of  the  Church  and  of  the  Nation 
against  abandonment  and  desertion,  and  now  in  its 
half  completed  condition,  feeling  the  touch  of  revival 
and  restoration,  it  pleads  more  imploringly  still  for 
just  enough  money  to  complete  the  repairs  and  to  enable 
it  once  more  to  enter  upon  its  life  of  activity,  and  to 
utter  again  with  renewed  joyousness  the  ancient  but 
long  suppressed  voice  of  prayer  and  of  thanksgiving. 
Shall  it  appeal  in  vain?  " 

The  appeal  was  not  in  vain.  The  church  was  com 
pleted.  Twelve  beautiful  memorial  windows  were  put 
in  place.  These  bore  the  names  of  George  Washington, 
Joseph  Bridger,  the  architect  of  the  church,  Robert  E. 
Lee,  Rev.  William  Hubbard,  the  first  rector,  Sir  Walter 
Raleigh,  John  Rolfe,  Captain  John  Smith,  Bishops 
Madison,  Moore,  Meade,  and  Johns,  and  Dr.  Blair, 
whose  connection  with  Bruton  Church  and  William 
and  Mary  College  is  told  in  another  chapter  of  this 
volume. 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     321 

A  building  that  is  similar  and  yet  in  many  respects 
quite  different  is  in  New  Kent  County,  about  as  far 
above  Williamsburg  as  Smithfield  is  below  that  uni 
versity  town.  This  is  St.  Peter's  Church.  It  is  thought 
that  the  parish  dates  from  1654,  though  the  present 
building  was  not  begun  until  1701.  The  minute  which 
tells  of  the  first  plan  for  the  structure  is  dated  August 
13,  1700: 

"  Whereas,  the  Lower  Church  of  this  Parish  is  very 
much  out  of  Repair  and  Standeth  very  inconvenient 
for  most  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  said  parish;  There 
fore  ordered  that  as  soon  as  conveniently  may  be  a  new 
Church  of  Brick  Sixty  feet  long  and  twenty  fower  feet 
wide  in  the  clear  and  fourteen  feet  pitch  with  a  Gallery 
Sixteen  feet  long  be  built  and  Erected  upon  the  Main 
Roade,  by  the  School  House  near  Thomas  Jackson's; 
and  the  Clerk  is  ordered  to  give  a  copy  of  this  order 
to  Capt.  Nich.  Merewether  who  is  Requested  to  show 
the  same  to  Will  Hughes  and  desire  him  to  draw  a 
Draft  of  said  Church  and  to  bee  at  the  next  vestry." 

The  cost  of  the  new  church  was  one  hundred  and 
forty-six  thousand  pounds  of  tobacco.  This  included 
the  main  building  only,  for  the  belfry  was  not  built 
until  1722. 

Rev.  David  Mossom,  who  was  rector  of  the  church 
from  1727  to  1767,  was  the  minister  who  married  Gen 
eral  Washington,  at  the  White  House,  as  the  home  of 
his  bride  was  called,  a  few  miles  from  St.  Peter's 
Church.  The  story  is  told  of  this  eccentric  minister 
that  on  one  occasion,  having  quarrelled  with  his  clerk, 
he  rebuked  him  from  the  pulpit.  The  latter  avenged 
himself  by  giving  out  to  the  congregation  the  psalm  in 
which  were  these  lines: 


322        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

"  With  restless  and  ungovern'd  rage 
Why  do  the  heathen  storm? 
Why  in  such  rash  attempts  engage 
As  they  can  ne'er  perform?  ': 

The  epitaph  on  the  tomb  of  Mr.  Mossom  in  St.  Peter's 
churchyard  states  that  he  was  the  first  native  American 
admitted  to  the  office  of  Presbyter  in  the  Church  of 
England. 


LXXIII 

MONTICBLLO,  NEAR  CHARLOTTE SVILLE, 
VIRGINIA 

THE  HOME  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON 

"  Oh,  my  young  master,  they  were  all  burnt,  but  ah ! 
we  saved  your  fiddle !  " 

So  the  negro  servant  replied  to  Thomas  Jefferson 
who,  on  returning  from  a  trip,  learning  that  his  home 
at  Shadwell  had  been  burned,  asked  after  his  books. 
To  the  negro's  mind  the  fiddle  was  the  most  important 
thing  in  the  house. 

Fortunately  the  new  mansion,  Monticello,  near  Char 
lotte,  which  he  had  designed,  was  so  nearly  completed 
that  he  was  able  to  take  up  his  residence  there.  Two 
years  later  he  led  into  the  new  house  his  bride,  Martha 
Skelton,  a  widow  of  twenty-three. 

Before  the  marriage  Jefferson,  in  accordance  with 
the  Virginia  law,  in  company  with  Francis  Eppes,  en 
tered  into  a  license  bond,  of  which  the  following  is  a 
copy: 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     323 

"Know  all  men  by  these  presents  that  we  Thomas 
Jefferson  and  Francis  Eppes  are  held  and  firmly  bound 
to  the  sovereign  lord  the  king  his  heirs  and  successors 
in  the  sum  of  fifty  pounds  current  money  of  Virginia, 
to  the  paiment  of  which  well  and  truly  to  be  made  we 
bind  ourselves  jointly  and  severally,  our  joint  and  sev 
eral  heirs,  executors  and  administrators,  in  witness 
whereof  we  have  hereto  set  our  hands  and  seals  this 
twenty-third  day  of  December  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy  one.  The  con 
dition  of  the  above  obligation  is  such  that  if  there  be 
no  lawful  cause  to  obstruct  a  marriage  intended  to  be 
had  and  solemnized  between  the  above  bound  Thomas 
Jefferson  and  Martha  Skelton  of  the  County  of  Charles 
County,  widow,  for  which  a  license  is  desired,  then  this 
obligation  is  to  be  null  and  void,  otherwise  the  same 
is  in  full  force." 

Edward  Bacon,  who  was  overseer  at  Monticello  for 
twenty  years,  described  the  estate  in  vivid  words: 

"  Monticello  is  quite  a  high  mountain,  in  the  shape 
of  a  sugar-loaf.  A  winding  road  led  up  to  the  mansion. 
On  the  very  top  of  the  mountain  the  forest  trees  were 
cut  down,  and  ten  acres  were  cleared  and  levelled.  .  .  . 
I  know  every  room  in  that  house.  Under  the  house  and 
the  terrace  that  surrounded  it,  were  the  cisterns,  ice 
house,  cellar,  kitchen,  and  rooms  for  all  sorts  of  pur 
poses.  His  servants'  rooms  were  on  one  side.  .  .  . 
There  were  no  negro  and  other  out-houses  around  the 
mansion,  as  you  generally  see  on  plantations.  The 
grounds  around  the  house  were  beautifully  ornamented 
with  flowers  and  shrubbery.  .  .  .  Back  of  the  house  was 
a  beautiful  lawn  of  two  or  three  acres,  where  his  grand 
children  used  to  play. 

"  His  garden  was  on  the  side  of  the  mountain.  I  had 
it  built  while  he  was  President.  It  took  a  great  deal 
of  labor.  We  had  to  blow  out  the  rocks  for  the  walls 
for  the  different  terraces,  and  then  make  the  soil.  .  .  . 


324        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

I  used  to  send  a  servant  to  Washington  with  a  great 
many  fine  things  for  his  table,  and  he  would  send  back 
the  cart  loaded  with  shrubbery." 

Jefferson  spent  most  of  his  time  on  his  estate  until 
his  death  in  1826,  except  when  he  was  called  away  for 
the  service  of  his  country. 

Nine  years  after  the  beginning  of  the  happy  married 
life  in  Monticello  there  was  a  panic  among  the  servants 
because  of  the  approach  of  the  British.  Because  Jef 
ferson  was  Governor  of  Virginia,  it  was  thought  that 
of  course  the  mansion  would  be  pillaged.  Mrs.  Jeffer 
son  was  put  in  the  carriage  and  sent  to  a  place  of 
safety,  while  Mr.  Jefferson  remained  at  home,  collect 
ing  his  most  valuable  papers.  Later  he  followed  his 
family.  But  when  the  soldiers  reached  the  estate,  the 
first  inquiry  of  the  leader  of  the  party  was  for  the 
master  of  the  house.  When  he  learned  that  Jefferson 
had  escaped,  he  asked  for  the  owner's  private  rooms, 
and,  on  being  shown  the  door  which  led  to  them,  he 
turned  the  key  in  the  lock  and  ordered  that  nothing  in 
the  house  should  be  touched.  This,  it  was  explained, 
was  in  strict  accordance  with  the  orders  that  had  been 
given  by  General  Tarleton;  their  sole  duty  was  to  seize 
the  Governor. 

A  year  later,  when  the  Marquis  de  Chastellux,  a 
nobleman  from  France,  visited  Monticello,  he  was 
charmed  with  the  house  of  which  Mr.  Jefferson  was 
the  architect,  and  often  one  of  the  workmen.  He  said 
it  was  "  rather  elegant,  and  in  the  Italian  taste,  though 
not  without  fault;  it  consists  of  one  large  square  pa 
vilion,  the  entrance  of  which  is  by  two  porticoes,  orna 
mented  with  pillars.  The  ground  floor  consists  of  a 
very  large  lofty  saloon,  which  is  to  be  decorated  entirely 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     325 

in  the  antique  style;  above  it  is  a  library  of  the  same 
size;  two  small  wings,  with  only  a  ground  floor  and 
attic  story,  are  joined  to  this  pavilion,  and  communi 
cate  with  the  kitchen,  offices,  etc.,  which  will  form  a 
kind  of  basement  story,  over  which  runs  a  terrace." 

Another  attractive  picture  was  given  by  the  Due  de 
la  Kochefoucauld-Liancourt,  after  his  visit  to  Monti- 
cello  in  1796.  He  noted  the  fact  that  Jefferson  owned 
five  thousand  acres,  .of  which  but  eleven  hundred  were 
cultivated. 

"  I  found  him  in  the  midst  of  the  harvest,"  he  wrote, 
"  from  which  the  scorching  heat  of  the  sun  does  not 
prevent  his  attendance.  .  .  .  Every  article  is  made  on 
his  farm:  his  negroes  are  cabinet  makers,  carpenters, 
masons,  bricklayers,  smiths,  etc.  The  children  he  em 
ploys  in  a  nail  factory,  which  yields  already  a  con 
siderable  profit.  .  .  .  His  superior  mind  directs  the 
management  of  his  domestic  concerns  with  the  same 
abilities,  activity  and  regularity  which  he  evinced  in 
the  conduct  of  public  affairs." 

Long  absence  from  home  and  lavish  hospitality 
wrecked  the  Jefferson  fortune,  and  wrhen  the  owner  of 
Monticello  finally  returned  home  after  his  eight  years 
as  President,  he  was  compelled  to  curtail  his  expenses. 
But  still  he  made  guests  welcome.  It  is  said  that  at 
times  there  were  as  many  as  fifty  guests  in  the  house 
at  one  time.  One  of  those  who  sought  the  Sage  of 
Monticello  in  1817  was  Lieutenant  Francis  Hall,  who 
wrote  of  his  veneration  as  he  looked  on  "  the  man  who 
drew  up  the  Declaration  of  American  Independence, 
who  shared  in  the  Councils  by  which  her  freedom  was 
established,  when  the  unbought  voices  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  called  to  the  exercise  of  a  dignity  from  which 


326        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

his  own  moderation  impelled  him,  when  such  an  ex 
ample  was  most  salutary,  to  withdraw ;  and  who,  while 
he  dedicates  the  evening  of  his  glorious  days  to  the 
pursuits  of  science  and  literature,  shuns  none  of  the 
humble  duties  of  private  life;  but,  having  filled  a  seat 
higher  than  that  of  kings,  succeeds  with  graceful  dig 
nity  to  that  of  the  good  neighbor,  and  becomes  the 
friendly  adviser,  lawyer,  physician,  and  even  gardener 
of  his  vicinity." 

July  4,  1826,  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  was  the  day  of  Jefferson's  death. 
The  sale  of  his  estate  was  sufficient  to  pay  all  his  debts. 
To  his  daughter  who  was  thus  made  homeless,  the  legis 
latures  of  South  Carolina  and  Virginia  each  voted  as 
a  gift  |10,000. 

On  the  stone  placed  over  the  grave  of  the  Sage  of 
Monticello  was  carved  the  inscription  which  he  him 
self  had  asked  for :  "  Here  was  buried  Thomas  Jeffer 
son,  author  of  the  Declaration  of  American  Independ 
ence,  of  the  Statute  of  Virginia  for  Religious  Freedom, 
and  Father  of  the  University  of  Virginia." 


LXXIV 

THE  UNIVEESITY  OF  VIRGINIA  AT 
CHARLOTTESVILLE 

THE  CHILD  OF  THOMAS  JEFFERSON'S  OLD  AGE 

When  Thomas  Jefferson  retired  from  the  Presidency 
he  was  surrounded  at  Monticello  by  his  daughter,  her 
husband,  and  eleven  grandchildren.  Daily  association 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS      327 

with  the  young  people  made  him  more  anxious  than 
ever  to  carry  out  a  plan  that  was  the  growth  of  years. 
He  wanted  to  see  other  children  as  happy  as  were  those 
in  his  own  home,  and  he  felt  that  the  one  thing  he  could 
do  to  increase  their  happiness  would  be  to  see  that  the 
State  made  provision  for  their  education. 

During  the  remainder  of  his  life  he  never  lost  sight 
of  his  project.  While  he  did  not  live  to  see  his  system 
of  common  schools  established  in  Virginia,  it  was  his 
joy  to  see  the  University  of  Virginia  grow  under  his 
hands  from  an  academy  to  a  college  and  then  to  a  uni 
versity.  From  1817  he  labored  for  State  appropria 
tions  for  the  school.  A  friend  in  the  State  Senate  as 
sisted  him  nobly.  The  reader  of  the  published  volume 
of  the  correspondence  between  the  two  men,  a  volume 
of  528  pages,  will  see  how  untiring  was  the  labor  that 
had  its  reward  when  the  appropriation  of  funds  made 
sure  the  founding  of  the  university.  Three  hundred 
thousand  dollars  were  provided  for  construction,  as 
well  as  |15,000  a  year  for  maintenance. 

Jefferson  himself  drew  the  plans  for  the  buildings 
and  superintended  the  construction.  Sarah  N.  Ran 
dolph,  in  "  The  Domestic  Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson," 
says  that  "  the  architectural  plan  and  form  of  govern 
ment  and  instruction  for  this  institution  afforded  con 
genial  occupation  for  his  declining  years.  .  .  .  While 
the  buildings  were  being  erected,  his  visits  to  them  were 
daily;  and  from  the  northeast  corner  of  the  terrace  at 
Monticello  he  frequently  watched  the  workmen  engaged 
on  them,  through  a  telescope  which  is  still  [1871]  pre 
served  in  the  library  of  the  University." 

Edmund  Bacon,  the  overseer  at  Monticello,  gave  to 
Hamilton  W.  Pierson,  the  author  of  "  Jefferson  at 


328        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Monticello,"  a  humorous  account  of  the  early  days  of 
the  project: 

"  The  act  of  the  Legislature  made  it  the  duty  of  the 
Commissioners  to  establish  the  University  within  one 
mile  of  the  Court  House  at  Charlottesville.  They  ad 
vertised  for  proposals  for  a  site.  Three  men  offered 
sites.  The  Commissioners  had  a  meeting  at  Monticello, 
and  then  went  and  looked  at  all  these  sites.  After  they 
had  made  their  examination,  Mr.  Jefferson  sent  me  to 
each  of  them,  to  request  them  to  send  by  me  their  price, 
which  was  to  be  sealed  up.  Lewis  and  Craven  each 
asked  $17  per  acre,  and  Perry,  $12.  That  was  a  mighty 
big  price  in  those  days.  .  .  .  They  took  Perry's  forty 
acres,  at  $12  per  acre.  It  was  a  poor  old  turned-out 
field,  though  it  was  finely  situated.  Mr.  Jefferson  wrote 
the  deed  himself.  Afterwards  Mr.  Jefferson  bought  a 
large  tract  near  it.  It  had  a  great  deal  of  timber  and 
rock  on  it,  which  was  used  in  building  the  University. 

"  My  next  instruction  was  to  get  ten  able-bodied 
hands  to  commence  the  work.  .  .  .  Mr.  Jefferson 
started  from  Monticello  to  lay  off  the  foundation,  and 
see  the  work  commenced.  An  Irishman  named  Dins- 
more,  and  I,  went  along  with  him.  As  we  passed 
through  Charlottesville,  I  ...  got  a  ball  of  twine,  and 
Dinsmore  found  some  shingles  and  made  some  pegs. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Jefferson  looked  over  the  ground  some  time, 
and  then  stuck  down  a  peg.  .  .  .  He  carried  one  end 
of  the  line,  and  I  the  other,  in  laying  off  the  foundation 
of  the  University.  He  had  a  little  ruler  in  his  pocket 
that  he  always  carried  with  him,  and  with  this  he 
measured  off  the  ground,  and  laid  off  the  entire  founda 
tion,  and  then  set  the  men  at  work." 

This  foot-rule  was  shown  to  Dr.  Pierson  by  Mr. 
Bacon,  who  explained  how  he  secured  it: 

"  Mr.  Jefferson  and  I  were  once  going  along  the  bank 
of  the  canal,  and  in  crawling  through  some  bushes  and 


HOMES  AND  HAUNTS  OF  THE  CAVALIERS     329 

vines,  it  [the  ruler]  fell  out  of  his  pocket  and  slid  down 
the  bank  into  the  river.  Some  time  after  that,  when 
the  water  had  fallen,  I  went  and  found  it,  and  carried 
it  to  Mr.  Jefferson.  He  told  me  I  ...  could  keep  it. 
.  .  .  When  I  die,  that  rule  can  be  found  locked  up  in 
that  drawer. 

"  After  the  foundations  were  nearly  completed,  they 
had  a  great  time  laying  the  corner-stone.  The  old  field 
was  covered  with  carriages  and  people.  There  wras  an 
immense  crowd  there.  Mr.  Monroe  laid  the  corner 
stone.  He  was  President  at  that  time.  ...  He  held 
the  instruments,  and  pronounced  it  square.  I  can  see 
Mr.  Jefferson's  white  head  just  as  he  stood  there  and 
looked  on. 

"  After  this  he  rode  there  from  Monticello  every  day 
while  the  University  was  building,  unless  the  weather 
was  very  stormy.  .  .  .  He  looked  after  all  the  mate 
rials,  and  would  not  allow  any  poor  materials  to  go 
into  the  building  if  he  could  help  it." 

A  letter  from  Jefferson  to  John  Adams,  written  on 
October  12,  1823,  spoke  of  the  "  hoary  winter  of  age." 
"  Against  this  tedium  vitae"  he  said,  "  I  am  fortunately 
mounted  on  a  hobby,  which,  indeed,  I  should  have  bet 
ter  managed  some  thirty  or  forty  years  ago ;  but  whose 
easy  amble  is  still  sufficient  to  give  exercise  and  amuse 
ment  to  an  octogenary  rider.  This  is  the  establishment 
of  a  University,  on  a  scale  more  comprehensive,  and 
in  a  country  more  healthy  and  central  than  our  old 
William  and  Mary,  which  these  obstacles  have  long 
kept  in  a  state  of  languor  and  inefficiency." 

In  designing  the  buildings  Jefferson  acknowledged 
his  indebtedness  to  Palladio,  who  guided  him  in  his 
adaptation  of  Roman  forms.  The  visitor  who  is  famil 
iar  with  Rome  is  reminded  of  the  baths  of  Diocletian, 
the  baths  of  Caracalla,  and  the  temple  of  Fortuna 


330        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Virilis,  while  a  reduction  of  the  Pantheon,  with  a  ro 
tunda,  is  the  central  feature  of  the  group. 

The  University  was  opened  in  March,  1825.  Forty 
students  were  in  attendance,  though  at  the  beginning 
of  the  second  year  the  number  was  increased  to  one 
hundred  and  seventy-seven. 

The  central  feature  of  the  collection  of  buildings,  the 
wonderful  Rotunda,  was  badly  injured  in  the  fire  of 
1895  which  destroyed  the  Annex.  The  Rotunda  was 
soon  rebuilt  according  to  Jefferson's  original  plan,  and 
the  group  of  buildings  is  more  beautiful  than  ever. 


SEVEN:  THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH 


The  long,  grey  moss  that  softly  swings 
In  solemn  grandeur  from  the  trees, 
Like  mournful  funeral  draperies, — 

A  brown-winged  bird  that  never  sings. 


»          *          * 
ALBERT  BIGELOW  PAINE. 


0  Magnet-South!     0  gistening  perfumed  South!  my  South! 

0  quick  mettle,  rich  Uood,  impulse  and  love!  good  and  evil!     0  all 

dear  to  me! 
0  dear  to  me  my  birth-things — all  moving  things  and  the  trees  where 

I  was  born — the  grains,  plants,  rivers, 
Dear  to  me  my  own  slow  sluggish  rivers  where  they  flow,  distant,  over 

fiats  of  silvery  sands  or  through  swamps. 


O  the  cotton  plant!  the  growing  fields  of  rice,  sugar,  hemp! 

The  cactus  guarded  with  thorns,  the  laurel-tree  with  large  white  flowers, 

The  range  afar,  the  richness  and  barrenness,  the  old  woods  charged  with 

mistletoe  and  trailing  moss, 
The  piney  odor  and  the  gloom,  the  awful  natural  stillness    (here  in. 

these  dense  swamps  the  freebooter  carries  his  gun,  and  the  fugitive 

has  his  conceal' d  hut;) 


The  mocking  bird,  the  American  mimic,  singing  all  the  forenoon,  singing 

through  the  moonlit  night, 

The  humming  bird,  the  wild  turkey,  the  raccoon,  the  opossum; 
A    Kentucky    corn-field,    the    tall,    graceful,    long-leaved    corn,    slender, 

flapping,   bright  green,  with  tassels,  with  beautiful  ears  each  well- 

sheath'd  in  its  husk; 
0  my  heart!     0  tender  and  fierce  pangs,  I  can  stand  them  not,  I  will 

depart; 

0  to  be  a  Virginian  where  I  grew  up!     O  to  be  a  Carolinian! 
0  longings  irrepressible!     O  I  will  go  back  to  old  Tennessee  and  never 

wander  more. 

WALT   WHITMAN. 


SEVEN:   THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH 


LXXV 

THREE  OLD  CHURCHES  IN  CHARLESTON, 
SOUTH  CAROLINA 

ST.  MICHAEL'S,  ST.  PHILIP'S,  AND  THE  HUGUENOT  CHURCH, 
RELICS  OF  COLONIAL  DAYS 

The  oldest  church  building  in  Charleston,  South  Caro 
lina,  St.  Michael's  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  is  a 
relic  of  three  wars.  At  the  beginning  of  the  Revolu 
tion  the  rector  and  the  vestry  disagreed;  the  rector  was 
a  loyalist  and  most  of  the  members  were  patriots. 
Accordingly  the  rector  resigned.  Later  the  beautiful 
tower,  which  is  unlike  any  other  church  tower  in  Amer 
ica,  was  painted  black,  lest  it  become  a  guiding  beacon  to 
the  British  fleet.  Unfortunately  the  black  tower  against 
the  blue  sky  proved  a  better  guide  than  a  white  tower 
would  have  been. 

The  clear-toned  bells,  which  were  cast  in  London  in 
1757,  were  taken  from  the  tower  when  the  British  evac 
uated  the  city  in  1782,  and  were  sold  in  London  as 
spoils  of  war.  Fortunately  a  Mr.  Ryhiner,  once  a  mer 
chant  in  Charleston,  learned  of  this,  boiight  them,  and 
sent  them  to  Charleston  as  a  business  venture. 

When  the  bells  were  landed  on  the  wharf  from  the 
brig  Lightning,  on  November  20,  1783 — according  to 

333 


334        HISTORIC  SHKINES  OF  AMERICA 

Johnson's  "  Traditions  of  Charleston  " — "  the  overjoyed 
citizens  took  possession,  and  hurried  them  up  to  the 
church  and  into  the  steeple,  without  thinking  that  they 
might  be  violating  a  private  right."  In  June,  1785, 
Mr.  Eyhiner  asked  for  payment  for  the  bells.  Later 
a  subscription  was  ordered  to  pay  the  merchant. 

During  the  British  occupation  of  the  city  horses  were 
stabled  in  the  church,  and  the  lead  roof  was  removed, 
for  use  in  bullet  making. 

In  1811  and  1812  the  church  figured  in  the  second 
war  with  Great  Britain.  The  vestry,  whose  patriotism 
was  as  great  as  ever,  opened  the  building  more  than 
once  for  meetings  of  the  citizens  who  wished  to  con 
sider  what  they  could  do  to  help  their  country  in  the 
impending  conflict. 

During  the  Civil  War  the  bells  were  taken  to  Colum 
bia,  to  be  cast  into  cannon.  Fortunately  they  were  not 
used  for  this  purpose,  but  during  Sherman's  march  to 
the  sea  they  were  burned  and  broken  into  small  pieces. 
A  friend  of  the  church  in  London,  on  learning  of  the 
disaster,  searched  records  of  the  bell-founders  till  he 
learned  who  had  cast  the  bells.  These  records  told  the 
proportions  of  metal  used  and  the  sizes  of  the  bells. 
Then  the  Londoner  wrote  to  Charleston  and  asked  that 
the  fragments  be  sent  to  him.  When  these  were  re 
ceived  in  London  they  were  recast  in  the  original 
moulds,  which  were  discovered  by  an  old  employee. 
The  cost  of  recasting  the  bells  and  restoring  them  to 
tkeir  places  in  the  steeple  was  $7,723,  of  which  sum 
the  City  Council  contributed  $3,000 ;  $2,200,  the  charge 
made  for  import  duty,  was  later  returned  to  the  church 
by  special  Act  of  Congress. 

For  nearly  twenty  years  after  the  receipt  of  these 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     335 

new-old  bells,  they  were  used  to  sound  fire-alarms,  as 
well  as  for  calling  to  the  services  of  the  church. 

The  venerable  building  has  suffered  from  fire,  wind, 
and  earthquake,  as  well  as  from  war.  In  1825  a  cyclone 
damaged  the  spire  and  the  roof,  and  in  1886  earthquake 
cracked  the  walls,  destroyed  a  portion  of  the  tower,  and 
did  so  much  further  damage  that  a  Charleston  paper 
spoke  of  it  as  the  "  saddest  wreck  of  all."  At  first  it 
was  feared  that  the  building  would  have  to  be  demol 
ished,  but  repairs  were  found  to  be  possible  at  a  cost 
of  $15,000. 

The  structure  dates  from  1752,  when  Governor  Glenn 
of  South  Carolina  laid  the  corner  stone.  The  cost  was 

<KQ9  T7PC  Q7 
«po^,  <  I  D.oi . 

St.  Michael's  parish  was  set  off  in  1751  from  St. 
Philip's  parish.  The  first  St.  Philip's  Church  was 
burned  in  1681  or  1682.  A  second  church  was  opened 
in  1723.  This  famous  building  survived  until  1835,  in 
spite  of  wars  and  fires.  The  building  was  saved  during 
the  fire  of  1796  by  a  slave  who  climbed  to  the  tower 
and  threw  to  the  ground  a  burning  brand.  As  a  re 
ward  the  vestry  purchased  his  freedom.  But  during 
the  great  fire  of  February  15,  1835,  the  edifice  was 
destroyed. 

The  old  church  had  been  so  much  a  part  of  the  life 
of  the  city  and  was  so  thoroughly  identified  with  the 
history  of  the  country,  that  the  citizens  rejoiced  when 
the  decision  was  reached  to  rebuild  it  in  practically 
every  detail  like  the  original,  with  the  addition  of  a 
chancel  and  spire. 

Older  than  either  St.  Philip's  or  St.  Michael's,  as  an 
organization,  is  the  Huguenot  Church  of  Charleston. 
The  early  records  of  the  congregation  were  destroyed 


336        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

in  the  fire  of  1740,  though  the  building  was  saved.  This 
first  building  was  blown  up  during  the  fire  of  1796,  in 
a  vain  effort  to  stay  the  progress  of  the  conflagration. 
A  second  building  followed  in  1800,  and  the  present 
building  was  erected  in  1828,  when  English  displaced 
the  French  language  in  the  services. 

Many  of  the  early  members  became  famous  in  history. 
The  tablets  erected  to  their  memory  are  so  numerous 
that  the  Huguenot  Church  might  well  dispute  with 
St.  Philip's  Church  the  title,  "The  Westminster  of 
South  Carolina." 


LXXVI 

THE  HOUSE  OF  REBECCA  MOTTE,  CHARLESTON, 
SOUTH  CAROLINA 

THE  SPARTAN  MATRON  WHO  HELPED  BURN  HER  OWN 
PROPERTY 

Charleston,  South  Carolina,  was  only  about  thirty 
years  old  when  the  Englishman,  Robert  Brewton,  and 
the  Huguenot  exile,  John  de  la  Motte,  took  up  their 
residence  there.  In  1758  Robert  Brewton's  daughter 
Rebecca  married  Jacob  Motte,  grandson  of  the 
Huguenot. 

Three  daughters  came  to  the  Motte  home,  and  the 
family  lived  quietly  until  the  outbreak  of  the  Revolu 
tion.  In  1775  Mrs.  Motte's  brother,  Miles  Brewton, 
sailed  for  England  with  his  family,  intending  to  leave 
them  with  relatives  there  while  he  returned  to  Charles 
ton  for  the  service  of  his  country.  But  the  vessel  was 


Photo  furnished  by  Rev.  Rockwell  S.  Bratik,  Savannah 


INDEPENDENT  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH,  SAVANNAH,  GA. 


See  page  340 


PRINGLE  HOTSK,  CHAKLESTOX,   S.  C. 


Photo  hy   1L.  P.  Cook- 
See  page  336 


THE  CABILDO,   NEW  ORLEANS,  LA. 


Photo  by  Ph.B.  Wallace 
See  page  343 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     337 

lost,  and  was  never  heard  from  again.  His  Charleston 
house  on  King  Street,  which  was  built  about  1765,  be 
came  the  property  of  his  sister. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  Mrs.  Motte,  knowing  that 
it  was  impossible  for  her  husband  to  become  a  soldier 
because  of  his  failing  health,  decided  to  do  her  part 
for  her  country.  Fortifications  were  to  be  built,  and 
many  laborers  were  needed,  so  she  sent  to  her  planta 
tion  for  all  the  able-bodied  men;  these  she  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  those  in  charge  of  the  work  of  de 
fence. 

She  had  her  reward  when,  first  in  1776,  and  again 
in  1779,  the  British  forces  were  unable  to  secure  pos 
session  of  the  town.  The  third  attempt,  made  by  Sir 
Henry  Clinton  in  1780,  was  successful.  For  nearly 
three  years  the  town  was  in  the  enemy's  control.  The 
Motte  house  was  made  headquarters  by  Clinton  and 
his  staff.  The  Mottes  were  crowded  into  a  small  room, 
while  the  British  lived  in  comfort  in  the  large  apart 
ments.  Mrs.  Motte  divided  her  time  between  her  in 
valid  husband,  her  timid  daughters,  and  the  invaders. 
It  was  her  custom  to  preside  at  the  long  dinner  table, 
but  the  young  ladies  were  never  allowed  to  appear  in 
the  presence  of  the  officers. 

A  reminder  of  the  presence  of  the  unwelcome  guests 
is  still  to  be  seen  on  the  marble  mantel  in  one  of  the 
rooms — a,  caricature  of  Clinton  scratched  on  the  pol 
ished  surface,  evidently  with  a  diamond  point.  In  the 
same  room  the  women  of  Charleston — who  were  accus 
tomed  to  go  about  the  streets  in  mourning,  during  the 
period  of  the  occupation — presented  a  petition  to  Lord 
Bawdon,  asking  for  the  pardon  of  Isaac  Hayne,  a  pa 
triot  who  had  been  condemned  for  some  infraction  of 


338        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

the  regulations  of  the  invaders.  Their  petition  for 
clemency  was  in  vain,  though  it  was  emphasized  by  the 
presence  of  Hayne's  two  little  children. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Motte,  in  January,  1781,  Mrs. 
Motte  and  her  daughters  secured  permission  to  leave 
Charleston  that  they  might  return  to  the  family  planta 
tion  on  the  Congaree,  thirty  or  forty  miles  from  Colum 
bia.  They  were  disappointed  in  their  desire  to  be  alone, 
for  it  was  not  long  till  the  English  decided  to  build 
on  the  estate  one  of  their  long  line  of  military  stations. 
Earthworks  were  thrown  up  around  the  house,  which 
became  known  as  Fort  Motte.  Again  the  family  were 
crowded  into  a  few  rooms,  while  officers  occupied  the 
remainder. 

After  a  time  Mrs.  Motte  was  asked  to  retire  to  a 
small  house  on  the  plantation,  a  rough  structure,  cov 
ered  with  weather-boards,  unplastered  and  only  par 
tially  lined.  At  first  it  seemed  that  there  was  no  place 
here  to  conceal  the  silverware  brought  from  Fort  Motte. 
How  the  difficulty  was  solved  has  been  told  in  "  Worthy 
Women  of  Our  First  Century  " : 

"  Some  one  suggested  that  the  unfinished  state  of  the 
walls  of  their  sitting-room  afforded  a  convenient  hiding 
place;  and  they  set  to  work  to  avail  themselves  of  it. 
Nailing  tacks  in  the  vacancy  between  the  outer  and 
inner  boarding,  and  tying  strings  around  the  various 
pieces  of  silver,  they  hung  them  along  the  inner  wall. 
Shortly  afterwards  a  band  of  marauders  did  actually 
invade  the  premises;  and  one  more  audacious  than  the 
others  jumped  on  a  chair  and  thrust  his  bayonet  into 
the  hollow  wall,  saying  he  would  soon  find  what  they 
had  come  in  search  of;  but,  rapping  all  along  on  the 
floor  within  the  wall,  he  did  not  once  strike  against 
anything  to  reward  bad  perseverance." 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     339 

After  a  time  General  Marion  and  Colonel  Lee  led 
up  troops  for  the  siege  of  Fort  Motte.  Fearing  that 
British  reinforcements  were  on  the  way,  they  decided 
they  must  make  an  attack  at  once.  The  best  way 
seemed  to  be  to  set  fire  to  the  main  building.  The 
American  leaders,  knowing  that  this  was  the  home  of 
Mrs.  Motte,  took  counsel  with  her.  "  Do  not  hesitate 
a  moment,"  was  the  prompt  reply  of  the  patriotic 
woman.  Then  she  added,  "  I  will  give  you  something 
to  facilitate  the  destruction."  So  saying,  she  handed 
to  General  Lee  a  quiver  of  arrows  from  the  East  Indies 
wrhich,  so  she  had  been  told  by  the  ship  captain  who 
brought  them  to  Charleston,  would  set  on  fire  any  wood 
against  which  they  were  thrown. 

Two  of  the  arrows  were  fired  from  a  gun  without 
result,  but  the  third  set  fire  to  the  shingles  of  the  house. 
The  efforts  of  the  garrison  to  extinguish  the  flames 
were  in  vain,  and  before  long  the  fortress  was  surren 
dered  to  the  patriots.  In  later  years,  when  Mrs.  Motte 
was  praised  for  her  part  in  the  siege,  she  was  accus 
tomed  to  say,  "  Too  much  has  been  made  of  a  thing 
that  any  American  woman  would  have  done." 

After  the  war  Mrs.  Motte  returned  to  the  house  in 
Charleston.  The  daughters  married,  and  numerous 
grandchildren  played  in  the  rooms  where  the  British 
officers  lived  during  the  occupation  of  Charleston.  The 
youngest  of  these  granddaughters  lived  in  the  house  in 
1876,  when  the  story  of  Rebecca  Motte  was  written  for 
the  Women's  Centennial  Executive  Committee. 

During  her  last  years  in  the  old  mansion,  Mrs.  Motte 
was  proudly  pointed  out  to  visitors  to  the  city.  One 
of  her  great-grandchildren  said  that  at  the  time  "  she 
was  rather  under-sized  and  slender,  with  a  pale  face, 


340        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

blue  eyes,  and  grey  hair  that  curled  slightly  under  a 
high-crowned  ruffled  mob-cap.  She  always  wore  a 
square  white  neckerchief  pinned  down  in  front,  tight 
sleeves  reaching  only  to  the  elbow,  with  black  silk  mit 
tens  on  her  hands  and  arms;  a  full  skirt  with  huge 
pockets,  and  at  her  waist  a  silver  chain,,  from  which 
hung  her  pin-cushion  and  scissors  and  a  peculiarly 
bright  bunch  of  keys." 

The  body  of  this  gracious  patriot  was  buried  in  old 
St.  Philip's  Church,  another  of  the  Revolutionary  land 
marks  of  the  Palmetto  City. 

The  mansion  which  she  made  famous  should  be  called 
the  Brewton  House,  or  the  Motte  House.  But  a  Motte 
married  an  Alston,  and  an  Alston  married  a  Pringle, 
and  so  many  families  of  the  latter  name  have  been  asso 
ciated  with  the  place  that  their  name  is  popularly 
given  to  it. 


LXXVII 

THE  INDEPENDENT  CHURCH,  SAVANNAH, 
GEORGIA 

FOR  WHICH  KING  GEORGE  II  MADE  A  LAND  GRANT 

When  George  II,  of  his  "  special  Grace,  certain  knowl 
edge  and  meer  motion,"  gave  a  deed  for  a  lot  in  Savan 
nah,  "  in  our  province  of  Georgia,''  he  declared  that  it 
was  "  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  such  of  our  loving  sub 
jects  ...  as  are  or  shall  be  professors  of  the  Doctrines 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  agreeable  to  the  Westminster 
Confession  of  Faith."  The  further  stipulation  was 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     341 

made  that  the  annual  rent,  if  demanded,  should  be 
"  one  pepper  corn." 

The  date  of  the  grant  was  January  16,  1756,  and 
within  the  three  years  allowed  for  the  erection  of  the 
building  a  brick  structure  was  ready  for  the  use  of  the 
Independent  Presbyterian  Church.  The  church  was 
independent  in  fact  as  well  as  in  name.  There  was  at 
first  no  presbytery  in  Georgia  with  which  it  could  unite, 
and  when  a  presbytery  was  organized,  this  independent 
relation  continued. 

The  first  pastor  was  Eev.  John  Joachim  Zubly,  who 
came  to  the  Colonies  from  Switzerland.  He  remained 
with  the  church  until  1778,  and  became  a  prominent 
figure  among  the  patriots  of  the  early  years  of  the 
Revolution.  When  the  first  Provincial  Congress  of 
Georgia  met  in  Savannah,  July  4,  1775,  it  adjourned, 
immediately  after  organization,  to  the  Independent 
Church,  where  Dr.  Zubly  preached  a  sermon  for  which 
he  received  the  public  thanks  of  Congress. 

The  London  Magazine  for  January,  1776,  contained 
an  impassioned  appeal  for  the  Colonies,  which  was 
signed  by  Dr.  Zubly.  The  editor  stated  that  the  com 
munication  was  printed  at  the  request  of  "  an  old  cor 
respondent,"  who  signed  himself  "  O."  It  is  supposed 
that  this  correspondent  was  General  James  E.  Ogle- 
thorpe,  the  founder  of  Georgia.  A  few  months  later 
Dr.  Zubly  went  to  Philadelphia,  as  a  member  of  the 
second  Continental  Congress.  He  had  also  been  a 
member  of  the  first  Congress  in  1774. 

During  the  siege  of  Savannah  by  the  British  the 
church  building  was  badly  injured  by  British  cannon, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  was  used  as  a  hospital.  Later 
the  British  used  the  church  as  barracks.  A  visitor  who 


342        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

entered  the  city  in  1784  said  that  he  found  the  church 
in  a  ruinous  condition.  It  was  promptly  repaired, 
however,  and  services  were  resumed. 

But  there  was  another  pastor  in  the  pulpit.  In  1778 
Dr.  Zubly  resigned,  probably  because,  for  some  strange 
reason,  he  deserted  the  Colonies  and  made  known  his 
allegiance  to  Great  Britain. 

Fire  destroyed  the  original  building  in  1796,  and  a 
fine  new  church  was  built.  Twenty-one  years  later  the 
rapidly  increasing  congregation  made  necessary  a  much 
larger  structure.  The  new  church  was  modelled  after 
St.  Martin's-in-the-Fields,  London,  and  more  than  two 
years  were  required  for  its  construction.  The  cost  was 
$96,108.67|,  a  large  sum  for  that  day  in  a  town  of  ten 
thousand  people.  Although  the  middle  aisle  was  eleven 
feet  wide  and  each  of  the  side  aisles  four  and  a  half 
feet  wide,  there  were  seatings  for  1,350  people.  The 
beautifully  proportioned  steeple  was  223  feet  high. 
The  day  after  the  dedication  a  local  paper  said  that 
"  for  grandeur  of  design  and  nature  of  execution,  we 
presume  this  church  is  not  surpassed  by  any  in  the 
United  States."  Many  architectural  writers  have  told 
rapturously  of  the  wonders  of  this  building. 

President  James  Monroe  and  his  suite,  as  well  as 
many  other  distinguished  visitors,  were  reverent  wor 
shippers  in  the  church  on  the  day  of  dedication. 

Lowell  Mason,  who  was  organist  of  the  church  from 
1815  to  1827,  composed  the  popular  melody  to  which 
Bishop  Heber's  missionary  hymn,  "  From  Greenland's 
Icy  Mountains,"  is  usually  sung.  This  melody  was  first 
played  by  him  for  the  Sunday  school  of  the  church, 
whose  organization  dates  from  1804. 

Dr.  S.  K.  Axson,  the  grandfather  of  Ellen  Axson,  the 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     343 

first  wife  of  President  Woodrow  Wilson,  was  pastor  of 
the  church  from  1857  to  1889.  The  Wilson  marriage 
ceremony  was  performed  by  Dr.  Axson  in  the  manse 
of  the  church. 

All  Savannah  mourned  when,  on  April  6,  1889,  fire 
brands  tossed  by  the  wind  lodged  on  a  cornice  of  the 
graceful  steeple,  too  high  to  be  reached.  Soon  the  old 
church  was  in  ruins.  But  the  city  resolved  that  the 
historic  church  must  be  restored.  A  new  building  was 
erected  which  is  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  former 
church.  To  it,  as  to  its  predecessors,  ecclesiastical 
architects  go  on  pilgrimage  as  a  part  of  their  education. 

One  of  the  old  customs  still  continued  in  the  church 
is  the  assembling  of  the  communicants  at  a  table  which 
is  laid  the  entire  length  of  the  broad  aisle,  as  well  as  in 
the  transept  aisle. 


LXXVIII 

THE  CABILDO  OF  NEW  ORLEANS 

WHICH  SAW  THE  TRANSFER  OF  LOUISIANA  TO  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

When  Count  Alejandro  O'Reilly,  Irish  Lieutenant- 
General  of  Spain,  entered  New  Orleans  on  July  24,  1769, 
he  came  as  the  avenger  of  the  disorders  that  followed 
the  transfer  of  Louisiana  to  Spain  by  the  Treaty  of 
Paris.  After  putting  to  death  some  of  the  leaders  in 
the  revolt,  he  reorganized  the  civil  government.  Among 
other  innovations  he  instituted  the  Cabildo  as  the  law- 
making  body  for  the  province,  to  take  the  place  of  the 


344        HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

French  superior  council.  The  meeting  place  was  a 
building  on  the  Place  d'Armes.  In  this  square,  on  the 
coming  of  O'Reilly,  the  flag  of  France  had  been  displaced 
by  that  of  Spain  as  Aubrey  said,  "  Gentlemen,  by  order 
of  the  King,  my  master,  I  absolve  you  from  your  oath 
of  fidelity  and  obedience  to  his  most  Christian  majesty.'' 
The  Spanish  and  French  officers  then  had  gone  together 
to  the  cathedral,  next  door  to  the  meeting  place  of  the 
Cabildo. 

The  original  building  occupied  by  the  Cabildo  was 
destroyed  in  the  fire  of  1788,  when,  in  less  than  five 
hours,  eight  hundred  and  sixteen  buildings  were  burned. 
The  loss,  amounting  to  three  million  dollars,  was  a  bless 
ing  in  disguise,  for  it  cleared  the  ground  for  the  recon 
struction  of  the  city  under  the  leadership  of  Don  Andres 
Almonaster  y  Roxas,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Cabildo. 
He  had  become  rich  since  his  arrival  with  the  Spaniards, 
and  he  had  a  vision  of  a  city  glorified  through  his 
wealth. 

First  he  built  a  schoolhouse,  a  church,  and  a  hospital. 
On  one  side  of  the  church  he  built  a  convent;  on  the 
other  side  he  erected  a  new  town  hall,  the  Cabildo.  The 
walls — which  are  as  sturdy  to-day  as  in  1795 — are  of 
brick,  half  the  thickness  of  the  ordinary  brick.  Shell 
lime  was  used  for  the  mortar.  Originally  the  Cabildo 
was  two  stories  in  height,  with  a  flat  roof;  the  mansard 
roof  was  added  in  1851.  At  the  same  time  the  open 
arches  of  the  second  story  loggia  that  corresponded  to 
the  arcade  on  the  ground  floor  were  closed,  that  there 
might  be  more  room  for  offices. 

For  eight  years  more  the  Cabildo  continued  its  ses 
sions  under  Spanish  rule.  Then  came  the  news  that 
Louisiana  had  been  transferred  by  Spain  to  France. 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     345 

Great  preparations  were  made  for  the  ceremonies  that 
were  to  accompany  the  lowering  of  the  Spanish  flag  and 
the  raising  of  the  French  colors  in  the  square  before 
the  Cabildo.  Then  the  prefect  Laussat  was  thunder 
struck  by  the  coming  of  word  that  Napoleon  had  ap 
pointed  a  Commission  not  only  to  receive  the  colony 
from  Spain  but  also  to  give  it  into  the  hands  of  the 
United  States,  to  whom  the  vast  territory  had  been  sold. 

The  first  transfer  took  place  on  November  30,  1803. 
The  official  document  was  signed  in  the  Sala  Capitular, 
the  hall  where  the  Cabildo  met,  and  was  read  from  the 
centre  gallery.  Then  the  tricolor  of  France  replaced 
the  flag  of  Spain. 

December  20,  1803,  was  the  date  of  the  transfer  to 
the  United  Stages.  The  American  Commission  met  the 
French  Commission  in  the  Sala  Capitular  of  the  Hotel 
de  Ville,  or  City  Hall,  as  the  French  called  the  Cabildo. 
Governor  Claiborne  received  the  keys  of  the  city,  and 
the  tricolor  on  the  flagstaff  gave  way  to  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.  A  vast  company  of  citizens  watched  the  cere 
monies,  listened  to  the  addresses,  and  looked  at  the 
American  troops  in  the  square,  as  well  as  at  the  French 
soldiers  who  were  to  have  no  further  power  in  the 
province. 

Grace  King,  in  "  New  Orleans,  the  Place  and  the 
People,"  tells  what  followed : 

"  When,  twenty-one  days  before,  the  French  flag  was 
flung  to  the  breeze,  for  its  last  brief  reign  in  Louisiana, 
a  band  of  fifty  old  soldiers  formed  themselves  into  a 
guard  of  honor,  which  was  to  act  as  a  kind  of  death 
watch  to  their  national  colors.  They  stood  now  at  the 
foot  of  the  staff  and  received  in  their  arms  the  Tricolor 
as  it  descended,  and  while  the  Americans  were  rending 


346        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

the  air  with  their  shouts,  they  marched  silently  away, 
their  sergeant  bearing  it  at  their  head.  All  uncovered 
before  it ;  the  American  troops,  as  they  passed,  presented 
arms  to  it.  It  was  carried  to  the  government  house, 
and  left  in  the  hands  of  Laussat." 

During  the  years  since  that  momentous  transfer  the 
Cabildo  has  continued  to  be  the  centre  of  historical  in 
terest  in  New  Orleans.  In  1825  Lafayette  was  quar 
tered  here.  In  1901  President  McKinley  was  received 
in  the  building.  In  1903  the  Centennial  of  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  was  observed  in  the  Sala  Capitular,  which  had 
been  for  many  years  the  meeting  place  of  the  State  Su 
preme  Court.  The  great  hall  is  almost  as  it  was  when 
the  Cabildo  of  Don  Almonaster  met  there. 

Since  1910  the  Cabildo,  in  common  with  the  Presby- 
tere,  the  old  Civil  District  Court,  a  building  of  nearly 
the  same  age  and  appearance,  located  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Cathedral,  has  been  the  Louisiana  State  Museum. 
The  curios  are  shown  in  a  large  hall  on  the  ground  floor. 
Among  these  is  the  flag  used  by  General  Jackson  at 
the  battle  of  New  Orleans. 

From  this  hall  of  relics  a  door  leads  to  a  courtyard, 
which  is  lined  by  tiers  of  gloomy  cells.  Stocks  and 
other  reminders  of  the  old  Spanish  days  are  in  evidence. 

The  old  Place  d'Armes  is  now  called  Jackson  Square. 
On  either  side  are  the  Pontalba  buildings,  which  were 
erected  by  the  daughter  of  Don  Andres  Almonaster  y 
Roxas,  who  inherited  millions  from  her  generous  father. 
On  the  spot  where  the  Stars  and  Stripes  were  raised  in 
1803  is  the  statue  to  General  Jackson,  the  victor  of  the 
battle  of  New  Orleans,  to  which  the  same  public-spirited 
woman  was  a  large  contributor. 

The  tomb  of  Don  Andres  is  shown  in  the  Cathedral 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     347 

he  gave  to  the  people,  by  the  side  of  the  Cabildo  which 
he  built  for  the  city  he  loved. 


LXXIX 

THE  ALAMO,  SAN  ANTONIO,  TEXAS 

"THERMOPYLAE  HAD  HER  MESSENGER  OF  DEFEAT: 
THE  ALAMO  HAD  NONE  " 

Early  in  the  eighteenth  century  the  Spaniards  built 
in  Texas,  then  a  part  of  Mexico,  a  number  of  staunch 
structures  that  were  designed  to  serve  not  only  as 
chapels  but  also  as  fortresses.  The  mission  that  at 
length  became  known  as  the  Alamo  was  first  built  on 
the  Eio  Grande  in  1710,  and  during  the  next  forty-seven 
years  was  rebuilt  four  times  in  a  new  location,  before  it 
was  given  a  final  resting-place  at  San  Antonio,  on  the 
banks  of  the  Alazan  Eiver.  There  it  was  called  Alamo, 
or  Poplar  Church.  Though  the  Alamo  was  begun  in 
1744,  it  was  not  completed  until  1757. 

For  nearly  eighty  years  there  was  nothing  specially 
notable  about  the  building.  Then  came  the  events  that 
made  the  name  famous. 

In  1832  Sam  Houston  was  sent  to  Texas  by  President 
Jackson  to  arrange  treaties  with  the  Indians  for  the 
protection  of  settlers  on  the  border.  Just  at  this  time 
settlers  in  Texas,  which  was  then  a  part  of  the  state  of 
Coahuila,  were  seeking  equal  privileges  with  the  other 
Mexican  states.  Most  of  the  settlers  had  come  from 
the  United  States,  and  they  hoped  that  in  time  Texas 
might  become  a  part  of  that  country. 


348        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

On  February  13,  1833,  Houston  wrote  to  President 
Jackson  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  getting  hold  of  the 
country.  Less  than  three  months  later  he  was  asked 
to  serve  as  a  delegate  to  a  constitutional  convention, 
which  demanded  from  Mexico  the  organization  of  the 
territory  into  states,  and  was  made  the  chairman  of  the 
committee  which  drew  up  for  the  proposed  states  a 
constitution  based  on  that  of  the  United  States.  Ste 
phen  F.  Austin,  who  has  been  called  "  The  Father  of 
Texas,"  went  to  Mexico  City  with  the  petition.  But  he 
was  imprisoned,  and  the  request  of  Texas  was  denied 
by  Santa  Anna,  president  of  Mexico. 

Later,  when  the  colonists  attempted  to  defend  them 
selves  against  the  Indians  and  other  lawbreakers,  the 
demand  was  made  that  they  give  up  their  arms. 

The  organization  of  a  provincial  government  followed 
in  1834,  and  Houston  was  chosen  commander-in-chief  of 
the  army.  The  brief  war  with  Mexico  was  marked  by 
a  number  of  heroic  events,  chief  of  which  was  the  de 
fence  of  the  Alamo,  where  a  small  force  of  Texans  re 
sisted  more  than  ten  times  the  number  of  Mexicans. 

When  the  army  of  Santa  Anna  approached  San 
Antonio,  on  February  22,  1836,  one  hundred  and  forty- 
five  men,  under  the  leadership  of  Colonel  James  Bowie 
and  Lieutenant-Colonel  William  B.  Travis,  retired  with 
in  the  church  fortress.  For  nearly  two  weeks  these 
heroic  men  defended  themselves,  and  the  enemy  did  not 
gain  entrance  until  every  one  of  them  was  killed. 

The  details  of  the  heroic  struggle  were  not  known 
until  1860,  when  Captain  R.  M.  Potter  printed  an  ac 
count  in  the  San  Antonio  Herald,  in  which  he  had  pa 
tiently  pieced  together  the  reports  that  came  to  him 
through  those  whom  he  regarded  most  dependable 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     349 

among  the  besiegers,  and  from  one  who  was  an  officer 
in  the  garrison  until  within  a  few  days  of  the  assault. 

Within  the  walls  a  well  had  been  dug  on  the  very 
day  the  Mexican  Army  entered  the  town.  Thus  a  plen 
tiful  supply  of  water  supplemented  the  store  of  meat 
and  corn  for  the  defenders. 

A  message  sent  out  by  Colonel  Travis  on  the  night  of 
March  3  told  of  the  events  of  the  first  days  of  the  siege : 

"  With  a  hundred  and  forty-five  men  I  have  held  this 
place  ten  days  against  a  force  variously  estimated  from 
1,500  to  6,000,  and  I  shall  continue  to  hold  it  till  I  get 
relief  from  my  countrymen,  or  I  will  perish  in  the  at 
tempt.  We  have  had  a  shower  of  bombs  and  cannon- 
balls  continually  falling  among  us  the  whole  time,  yet 
none  of  us  have  fallen." 

Santa  Anna  led  a  final  assault  on  March  6.  Scaling 
ladders,  axes,  and  fascines  were  to  be  in  the  hands  of 
designated  men.  Five  columns  were  to  approach  the 
wall  just  at  daybreak. 

At  the  first  onset  Colonel  Travis  was  killed  and 
breaches  were  made  in  the  walls.  The  outer  walls  and 
batteries  were  abandoned,  and  the  defenders  retired  to 
the  different  rooms  within. 

"  From  the  doors,  windows,  and  loopholes  of  the  sev 
eral  rooms  around  the  area  the  crack  of  the  rifle  and 
the  hiss  of  the  bullet  came  fierce  and  fast;  as  fast  the 
enemy  fell  and  recoiled  in  his  first  efforts  to  charge. 
The  gun  beside  which  Travis  fell  was  now  turned  against 
the  buildings,  as  were  also  some  others,  and  shot  after 
shot  was  sent  crashing  through  the  doors  and  barricades 
of  the  several  rooms.  Each  ball  was  followed  by  a  storm 
of  musketry  and  a  charge;  and  thus  room  after  room 
was  carried  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  when  all  within 
them  had  died  fighting  to  the  last.  The  struggle  was 


350        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

made  up  of  a  number  of  separate  and  desperate  combats, 
often  hand  to  hand,  between  squads  of  the  garrison  and 
bodies  of  the  enemy.  The  bloodiest  spot  about  the  fort 
was  the  long  barrack  and  the  ground  in  front  of  it, 
where  the  enemy  fell  in  heaps." 

David  Crockett  was  among  those  who  were  killed  in 
one  of  the  rooms.  He  had  joined  the  defenders  a  few 
days  before  the  beginning  of  the  siege. 

The  chapel  was  the  last  point  taken.  "  Once  the 
enemy  in  possession  of  the  large  area,  the  guns  could  be 
turned  to  fire  into  the  door  of  the  church,  only  from  fifty 
to  a  hundred  yards  off.  The  inmates  of  the  last  strong 
hold  fought  to  the  last,  and  continued  to  fire  down  from 
the  upper  works  after  the  enemy  occupied  the  floor. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  struggle  Lieutenant  Dicken- 
son,  with  his  child  in  his  arms,  or,  as  some  accounts  say, 
tied  to  his  back,  leaped  from  the  east  embrasure  of  the 
chapel,  and  both  were  shot  in  the  act.  Of  those  he  left 
behind  him  the  bayonet  soon  gleaned  what  the  bullet 
had  left;  and  in  the  upper  part  of  that  edifice  the  last 
defender  must  have  fallen." 

This  final  assault  lasted  only  thirty  minutes.  In  that 
time  the  defenders  of  Texas  won  immortal  fame.  Four 
days  before,  the  Republic  of  Texas  had  been  proclaimed. 
Those  who  fell  in  the  Alamo  were  hailed  the  heroes  of 
the  struggle.  "  Remember  the  Alamo !  "  was  the  battle 
cry  of  the  war  for  independence  that  was  waged  until 
the  Mexican  Army  was  routed  at  San  Jacinto,  April 
21,  1836. 

On  the  capitol  grounds  at  Austin,  Texas,  stands  a 
monument  to  the  heroes  of  the  Alamo,  with  the  inscrip 
tion  :  "  Thermopylae  had  her  messenger  of  defeat ;  the 
lAlamo  had  none." 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH  351 

LXXX 

THE  HERMITAGE,  NASHVILLE,  TENNESSEE 

ANDREW  JACKSON'S  RETREAT  IN  THE  INTERVALS  OF 
HIS  PUBLIC  SERVICE 

Andrew  Jackson  was  a  pioneer.  From  North  Caro 
lina  he  crossed  the  mountains  to  what  was  then  the 
Western  District.  He  was  a  lawyer,  but  he  wanted  to 
be  a  farmer  also.  His  first  land  purchase  was  made 
in  1791.  This  land  was  lost  in  the  effort  to  pay  the 
debts  of  another. 

The  second  effort  at  farming  was  more  successful. 
This  was  begun  in  1804,  when  he  bought  a  tract  of  some 
twenty-eight  thousand  acres,  six  thousand  acres  of 
which  he  retained  permanently  as  the  Hermitage  plan 
tation.  From  the  beginning  he  showed  that  he  had  a 
genius  for  farming.  Crops  were  large,  and  his  wealth 
grew  rapidly,  until  he  became  the  wealthiest  man  in  all 
that  country.  After  a  few  years  he  became  famous  as 
a  breeder  of  race  horses.  He  owned  a  track  of  his  own 
not  far  from  the  mansion. 

For  fifteen  years  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Jackson  lived  in  a 
log  cabin.  But  they  maintained  a  large  establishment. 
They  had  their  slaves,  and  they  drove  in  a  carriage 
drawn  by  four  horses.  And  they  entertained  royally. 
Jackson's  biographer,  James  Parton,  tells  of  a  Nash 
ville  lady  who  said  that  she  had  often  been  at  the  Her 
mitage  "  when  there  were  in  each  of  the  four  available 
rooms  not  a  guest  merely,  but  a  family,  while  the  young 
men  and  solitary  travellers  who  chanced  to  drop  in  dig- 


352        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

posed  themselves  on  the  piazza,  or  any  other  shelter 
about  the  house." 

The  log  house  was  still  the  plantation-house  when 
General  Jackson's  neighbors  gathered  to  welcome  him 
home  as  the  victor  of  New  Orleans.  In  the  response  he 
gave  to  their  greeting  he  made  a  prophecy : 

"  Years  will  continue  to  develop  our  inherent  quali 
ties,  until,  from  being  the  youngest  and  the  weakest,  we 
shall  become  the  most  powerful  nation  in  the  universe." 

General  Jackson  was  popular  with  all  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  the  plantation.  To  his  slaves  he  was  a  hero. 
To  his  wife  he  was  devoted.  Parton  says  that  he  always 
treated  her  as  if  she  was  his  pride  and  glory.  And 
words  can  faintly  describe  her  devotion  to  him.  She 
also  was  popular  among  the  servants;  her  treatment  of 
them  was  courteous  in  the  extreme.  A  visitor  to  the 
Hermitage  told  of  being  present  at  the  hour  of  evening 
devotions.  Just  before  these  began  the  wife  of  the  over 
seer  came  into  the  room.  Mrs.  Jackson  rose  and  made 
room  for  her  on  the  sofa.  One  of  the  guests  expressed 
her  surprise  to  a  lady  sitting  next  her.  "  That  is  the 
way  here,"  the  lady  whispered,  "  and  if  she  had  not  done 
it,  the  General  would." 

Peter  Cartwright,  the  famous  pioneer  preacher,  told 
in  his  Autobiography  an  incident  that  revealed  the  Gen 
eral's  nature.  Cartwright  was  preaching,  when  the 
pastor  of  a  church,  who  was  with  him  in  the  pulpit, 
leaned  forward  and  whispered,  "  General  Jackson  has 
just  come  in."  The  outspoken  preacher  replied,  so  that 
every  one  could  hear :  "  What  is  that  if  General  Jack 
son  has  come  in?  In  the  eyes  of  God  he  is  no  bigger 
than  any  other  man !  "  After  the  service  Jackson  told 


THE  HERMITAGE,   NASHVILLE,  TENN. 


Photo  b)/  Wilex,  Xaxhrille 
See  page  351 


ASHLAND,  LEXINGTON,  KY. 


Photo  by  E.  C.   Hall 
See  page  355 


SPORTSMAN  S  HALL,  WHITLEY  S  STATION,   KY. 


Photo  by  Miss  M.  E.  Sacre,  Stanford,  Ky. 
See  page  359 


WHITE  HAVEN,  ST.  LOUIS 


Photo  furnished  by  Albert  Wenzlick 
See  page  362 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     353 

Mr.  Cartwright  of  his  hearty  approval  of  the  sentiment. 

That  there  might  be  more  room  for  entertaining  pass 
ing  strangers  like  Mr.  Cartwright,  as  well  as  hosts  of 
friends,  Jackson  began  to  build  The  Hermitage  in  1819, 
of  brick  made  on  the  plantation.  When  this  house  was 
burned  in  1836,  a  new  house  was  built  on  the  old  foun 
dation,  and  with  the  same  general  plan.  The  building 
has  the  rather  unusual  length  of  104  feet.  Six  pillars 
support  the  roof  in  front  and  in  rear. 

Between  the  building  of  the  first  house  and  its  suc 
cessor  came  most  of  Jackson's  political  career.  During 
this  period  also  was  the  visit  of  General  Lafayette.  On 
this  occasion  the  Frenchman,  recognizing  the  pair  of 
pistols  which  he  had  given  to  Washington  in  1778,  said 
that  he  had  a  real  satisfaction  in  finding  them  in  the 
hands  of  one  so  worthy  of  possessing  them.  "  Yes,  I 
believe  myself  to  be  worthy  of  them,"  Jackson  began  his 
reply,  in  words  that  seemed  far  less  modest  than  the 
conclusion  proved  them ;  for  he  added :  "  if  not  for  what 
I  have  done,  at  least  for  what  I  wished  to  do,  for  my 
country." 

The  Hermitage  never  seemed  the  same  place  to  Jack 
son  after  the  death  of  his  wife,  on  December  22,  1828, 
only  a  few  days  after  his  first  election  to  the  presidency. 

Two  years  after  his  final  return  from  Washington, 
after  attending  service  at  the  little  Presbyterian  church 
on  the  estate,  he  begged  the  pastor,  Dr.  Edgar,  to  return 
home  with  him.  The  pastor  was  unable  to  accept,  but 
promised  to  be  on  hand  early  in  the  morning.  All  night 
the  General  read  and  prayed.  Next  morning,  when  Dr. 
Edgar  came,  he  asked  to  be  admitted  to  the  Church. 

Parton  says  that  from  this  time  to  the  end  of  his  life 
"  General  Jackson  spent  most  of  his  leisure  hours  in 


354        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

reading  the  Bible,  Biblical  commentaries,  and  the  hymn- 
book,  which  last  he  always  pronounced  in  the  old-fash 
ioned  way,  /time-book.  The  work  known  as  '  Scott's 
Bible'  was  his  chief  delight;  he  read  it  through  twice 
before  he  died.  Nightly  he  read  prayers  in  the  presence 
of  his  family  and  household  servants." 

Soon  after  he  united  with  the  Church,  the  congrega 
tion  wished  to  choose  him  to  the  office  of  elder.  "  No," 
he  said,  "  I  am  too  young  in  the  Church  for  such  an 
office.  My  countrymen  have  given  me  high  honors,  but 
I  should  esteem  the  office  of  ruling  elder  in  the  Church 
of  Christ  a  far  higher  honor  than  any  I  have  ever 
received." 

For  six  years  he  continued  to  be  an  unofficial  member 
of  the  church.  Then,  on  June  8,  1845,  he  said  to  those 
who  had  gathered  about  his  death-bed :  "  I  am  my  God's. 
I  belong  to  Him.  I  go  but  a  short  time  before  you,  and 
I  want  to  meet  you  all,  white  and  black,  in  heaven." 

Less  than  two  months  before  his  death,  when  the 
President  and  Directors  of  the  National  Institute  pro 
posed  that  an  imported  sarcophagus  in  their  possession 
be  set  apart  for  his  last  resting-place,  he  declined,  be 
cause  he  wished  to  lie  by  the  side  of  his  wife,  in  the 
garden  of  The  Hermitage. 

Until  1888  Andrew  Jackson,  Jr.,  and  after  his  death, 
his  widow  occupied  the  house,  during  the  last  thirty- 
two  years  of  this  period  as  caretakers  for  the  State, 
which  had  bought  the  property  for  f  48,000.  Since  1889 
the  mansion  and  twenty-five  acres  of  ground  have  been 
cared  for  by  the  Ladies'  Hermitage  Association. 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH  355 

LXXXI 

ASHLAND,  LEXINGTON,  KENTUCKY 

THE  HOME  OF  HENRY  CLAY  FOR  FORTY-SIX  YEARS 

Henry  Clay's  mother,  having  married  Captain  Henry 
Watkins,  moved  from  Hanover,  Virginia,  to  Woodford 
County,  Kentucky,  in  1792.  As  soon  as  the  future 
statesman  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  Virginia 
Court  of  Appeals,  he  decided  to  follow  her.  Accord 
ingly,  in  November,  1797,  he  became  a  resident  of  Lex 
ington.  Three  years  later  the  Kentucke  Gazette,  the 
first  paper  published  west  of  the  mountains,  told  of  "  an 
eloquent  oration  "  that  was  "  delivered  by  Henry  Clay, 
Esquire." 

The  year  before  the  young  lawyer  received  this  flat 
tering  notice  he  married  Lavinia  Hart,  of  Lexington. 
Seven  years  were  spent  in  rented  quarters,  but  in  1806 
he  purchased  an  estate  about  a  mile  and  a  half  from 
town. 

Clay  took  the  keenest  pleasure  in  the  estate.  Once  he 
wrote  to  a  friend : 

"  I  am  in  one  respect  better  off  than  Moses.  He  died 
in  sight  of  and  without  reaching  the  Promised  Land.  I 
occupy  as  good  a  farm  as  any  he  would  have  found  had 
he  reached  it,  and  '  Ashland '  has  been  acquired  not  by 
hereditary  descent  but  by  my  own  labor." 

However,  it  was  only  at  intervals  that  the  proud 
owner  was  able  to  enjoy  Ashland.  After  1803  the 
longest  period  of  residence  was  six  years,  and  this  was 
toward  the  close  of  his  life. 


356        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

The  management  of  the  property  was  largely  in  the 
hands  of  Mrs.  Clay,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  plantation 
was  proof  of  her  capability.  From  Washington  he 
wrote  frequently  of  things  he  would  like  to  see  done. 
He  was  especially  interested  in  blooded  stock  which  he 
secured  in  the  East  and  abroad.  Once  he  wrote  proudly 
of  the  fact  that  there  were  on  the  estate  specimens  of 
"  the  Maltese  ass,  the  Arabian  horse,  the  Merino  and 
Saxe  Merino  sheep,  the  English  Hereford  and  Durham 
cattle,  the  goat,  the  mule  and  the  hog."  His  race  horses 
were  famous,  and  he  delighted  to  handle  them  himself. 
He  also  liked  to  feed  the  pigs,  even  when  he  was  an  old 
man. 

There  were  many  slaves  at  Ashland,  and  they  were 
all  attached  to  their  master.  His  will  provided  for  their 
emancipation,  under  wise  conditions.  Once,  when  a 
friend  bequeathed  him  twenty-five  slaves,  he  sent  them 
to  Liberia,  by  way  of  New  Orleans. 

Harriet  Martineau,  who  visited  Ashland  in  1835,  told 
of  her  pleasant  impression  of  the  place  and  its  owner : 

"  I  stayed  some  weeks  in  the  house  of  a  wealthy  land 
owner  in  Kentucky.  Our  days  were  passed  in  great  lux 
ury,  and  the  hottest  of  them  very  idly.  The  house  was 
in  the  midst  of  grounds  gay  with  verdure  and  flowers, 
in  the  opening  month  of  June,  and  our  favorite  seats 
were  the  steps  of  the  hall,  and  chairs  under  the  trees. 
From  there  we  could  watch  the  play  of  the  children  on 
the  grass  plot,  and  some  of  the  drolleries  of  the  little 
negroes.  .  .  .  There  were  thirty-three  horses  in  the 
stables,  and  we  roved  about  the  neighboring  country 
accordingly.  ..." 

As  the  years  passed  visitors  flocked  to  Ashland  in 
ever-increasing  numbers.  Many  of  them  were  politi- 


THEOUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     357 

clans,  but  more  were  plain  people  who  were  devoted  to 
Clay  and  could  not  understand  why  the  country  refused 
to  elect  him  President.  In  1844,  during  his  longest 
period  of  continuous  residence  at  Ashland,  he  received 
word  of  the  disappointing  result  of  the  election.  After 
a  few  days,  when  he  was  walking  on  the  turnpike  near 
the  house,  he  was  startled  by  a  woman  who,  on  passing 
him,  burst  into  tears.  When  he  asked  her  why  she  wept, 
she  said: 

"  I  have  lost  my  father,  my  husband,  and  my  children, 
and  passed  through  other  painful  trials ;  but  all  of  them 
together  have  not  given  me  so  much  sorrow  as  the  late 
disappointment  of  your  friends." 

A  story  is  also  told  of  a  bride  and  groom  who  visited 
Ashland  on  the  day  the  news  of  defeat  was  received. 
The  journey  was  continued  down  the  Mississippi  Kiver. 
On  the  boat  the  groom  was  taken  seriously  ill.  The 
physician  who  was  called  to  attend  him  was  puzzled  to 
define  the  ailment  until  the  bride  said  that  the  cause 
was  the  defeat  of  Henry  Clay.  The  old  doctor  threw 
his  arms  about  the  patient's  neck  and  cried,  "  There  is 
no  cure  for  a  complaint  like  that." 

The  sting  of  defeat  was  forgotten  one  day  in  1845. 
Mr.  Clay  was  in  his  bank  in  Lexington,  prepared  to  pay 
a  part  of  the  indebtedness  that  had  all  but  swamped 
him,  so  that  he  felt  he  might  have  to  sacrifice  Ashland. 
The  bank  told  him  that  about  f  50,000  had  been  deposited 
in  the  bank  by  his  friends  from  all  parts  of  the  country, 
enough  to  pay  all  his  debts.  He  never  knew  the  names 
of  the  generous  friends  who  had  made  possible  the  re 
tention  of  the  property. 

He  thought  he  was  to  spend  the  remainder  of  his  days 


358        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

at  home,  and  that  he  would  die  there  in  peace.  One 
day  he  said,  in  an  address  in  Lexington,  "  I  felt  like  an 
old  stag  which  has  been  long  coursed  by  the  hunters 
and  the  hounds,  through  brakes  and  briars,  and  over 
distant  plains,  and  has  at  last  returned  to  his  ancient 
lair  to  lay  himself  down  and  die." 

Again  in  1848  he  tasted  defeat,  though  on  this  oc 
casion  it  was  in  the  nominating  convention,  not  in  the 
election.  In  the  trying  days  that  followed  he  was  sus 
tained  by  his  Christian  faith.  He  had  been  baptized  in 
the  parlor  at  Ashland  on  June  22,  1847.  The  reality 
of  his  religious  convictions  was  seen  one  day  by  what  he 
said  to  a  company  of  friends  who  had  been  talking  in  a 
despairing  manner  of  the  future  of  the  country.  Point 
ing  to  the  Bible  on  the  table,  he  said,  "  Gentlemen,  I 
do  not  know  anything  but  that  Book  which  can  reconcile 
us  to  such  events." 

In  1849  Clay  was  sent  to  the  United  States  Senate 
because  the  legislature  of  Kentucky  felt  that  he  was 
needed  to  help  in  the  solution  of  questions  raised  by  the 
Mexican  War.  He  spent  three  years  in  Washington, 
then  died  in  the  midst  of  his  work.  After  a  journey 
that  showed  what  a  place  he  had  won  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people,  his  body  was  taken  to  Lexington.  The  cata 
falque  lay  in  state  in  Ashland  over  one  night.  Next 
day  the  body  was  buried  near  Lexington. 

His  son,  James  B.  Clay,  who  purchased  the  estate 
at  auction,  tore  down  the  house  because  of  its  weakened 
foundations,  but  rebuilt  it  of  the  same  materials,  on  the 
old  site,  and  on  almost  the  identical  plans.  Both  out 
side  and  inside  the  mansion  has  practically  the  appear 
ance  of  the  original. 

Before  the  Civil  War  Ashland  was  purchased  by  the 


THKOUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     359 

State  College,  but  in  1882  it  became  the  property  of 
Major  Henry  Clay  McDowell,  whose  widow  lived  there 
for  many  years.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Henry  Clay, 
Jr.,  whose  death  at  the  Battle  of  Buena  Vista  was  a 
sore  blow  to  one  who  was  always  a  fond  father. 


LXXXII 

SPORTSMAN'S  HALL,  WHITLEY 'S  STATION, 
KENTUCKY 

THE  HOME  OF  THE  MAN  WHO  KILLED  TECUMSEH 

"  Then,  Billy,  if  I  was  you,  I  would  go  and  see ! " 

Thus  replied  Esther  Whitley  of  Augusta,  Virginia, 
to  her  husband  William  Whitley,  when,  early  in  1775, 
he  had  told  her  that  he  had  a  fine  report  of  Kentucky, 
and  that  he  thought  they  could  get  their  living  in  the 
frontier  settlements  with  less  hard  work  than  was  re 
quired  in  Virginia. 

Whitley  took  his  wife  at  her  word.  Two  days  later, 
with  axe  and  plow  and  gun  and  kettle,  he  was  on  his 
way  over  the  mountains.  Daniel  Boone  had  not  yet 
marked  out  the  Wilderness  Eoad  that  was  to  become 
the  great  highway  of  emigration  from  Virginia  to  Ken 
tucky.  At  first  his  only  companion  was  his  brother-in- 
law,  George  Clark,  but  on  the  way  seven  others  joined 
the  party. 

During  the  next  six  years  he  was  one  of  the  trusted 
pioneers  at  Boonesborough  and  Harrod's  Fort,  two  sta 
tions  on  the  Wilderness  Eoad.  When  he  had  a  house 


360        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

ready  for  his  wife,  lie  returned  to  Virginia,  and  brought 
her  to  Kentucky.  It  is  said  that  she  was  the  third  white 
woman  to  cross  the  Cumberland  Mountains,  Mrs.  Daniel 
Boone  and  her  daughter  being  the  first  and  second.  The 
claim  has  been  made  that  their  daughter,  Louisa,  who 
was  born  in  Boonesborough,  was  the  first  white  child 
born  in  the  present  limits  of  Kentucky. 

Louisa  was  perhaps  four  years  old  when  Whitley  re 
moved  to  the  vicinity  of  Crab  Orchard,  the  famous  as 
sembling  place  for  parties  about  to  take  the  dangerous 
journey  back  to  Virginia.  Two  miles  from  the  settle 
ment  he  built  Whitley's  Fort.  In  1788  he  felt  able  to 
build  for  his  growing  family  the  first  brick  house  in 
Kentucky.  The  brick  were  brought  from  Virginia,  and 
the  man  who  laid  the  brick  was  given  a  farm  of  five 
hundred  acres  for  his  services.  The  windows  were 
placed  high  above  the  ground  to  prevent  the  Indians 
from  shooting  in  at  the  occupants.  The  window-glass 
was  carried  across  the  mountains  in  pack-saddles.  The 
stairway  had  twenty-one  steps,  and  on  these  steps  were 
carved  the  heads  of  thirteen  eagles  to  represent  the  orig 
inal  thirteen  Colonies.  The  doors  were  made  of  wood, 
elaborately  carved,  and  were  in  two  layers,  a  heavy  sheet 
of  iron  being  placed  between  these.  The  old-time 
leather  hinges  are  still  in  use. 

The  owner  laid  out  on  his  property  the  first  race  track 
in  Kentucky,  and  he  called  his  house  Sportsman's  Hall. 
In  its  walls  scores  of  settlers  found  refuge  in  time  of 
danger.  Famous  men  sat  with  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitley 
at  their  hospitable  table,  among  these  being  Daniel 
Boone,  George  Rogers  Clark,  and  General  Harrison. 

Until  his  death  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames  in  1813 
Whitley  was  one  of  the  chief  defenders  of  the  settlers 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     361 

against  the  Indians.     On  his  powder  horn  he  cut  the 
lines : 

William  Whitley,  I  am  your  home, 
The  truth  I  love,  a  lie  I  scorne, 
Fill  me  with  the  best  of  powder, 
I  '11  make  your  rifle  crack  the  louder. 

See  how  the  dread,  terrifick  ball 
Makes  Indians  blench  at  Toreys  fall, 
You  with  powder  I'll  supply 
For  to  defend  your  liberty. 

One  day  in  1785  a  messenger  came  to  Whitley's  Fort 
with  the  tidings  that  Indians  had  captured  a  mother  and 
her  babe,  after  killing  three  older  children.  Mr.  Whit- 
ley  was  not  at  home,  but  Mrs.  Whitley  sent  for  him.  In 
the  meantime  she  collected  a  company  of  twenty  res 
cuers.  On  his  return  Whitley  placed  himself  at  their 
head,  pursued  the  Indians,  and  rescued  the  prisoners. 

The  title  Colonel  was  given  to  Whitley  in  1794,  when 
he  commanded  the  Nickerjack  expedition  against  the 
Tennessee  Indians,  who  had  been  conducting  foraging 
expeditions  into  Kentucky.  The  march  was  conducted 
with  such  secrecy  and  despatch  that  the  enemy  were 
taken  by  surprise,  and  were  completely  routed. 

The  last  of  his  campaigns  took  place  in  Canada 
against  the  British,  French,  and  Indians  in  1813.  Many 
claim  that  before  he  received  his  mortal  wound  in  the 
battle  of  the  Thames,  he  fired  the  shot  that  killed  Tecum- 
seh,  the  chief  who  had  given  so  much  trouble  to  the 
settlers  of  Kentucky  and  Indiana.  Others  say  that  the 
shot  was  fired  by  a  Colonel  Johnson. 

The  body  of  the  Indian  fighter  rests  in  an  unknown 
grave  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  territory  he  helped 


362        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

to  wrest  from  the  Indians,  but  the  brick  house  he  built 
near  Crab  Orchard  is  still  one  of  the  historic  buildings 
of  Kentucky. 


LXXXIII 

WHITE  HAVEN,  NEAR  ST.  LOUIS,  MISSOURI 
WHERE  ULYSSES  S.  GRANT  COURTED  JULIA  DENT 

Immediately  after  Ulysses  Simpson  Grant  graduated 
from  West  Point,  he  was  sent  to  Jefferson  Barracks,  at 
St.  Louis.  His  military  duties  were  not  so  arduous 
that  he  was  unable  to  accept  the  invitation  of  Fred 
Dent,  a  former  roommate  at  West  Point,  to  go  with  him 
to  the  Dent  homestead  on  the  Gravois  Road,  four  miles 
from  the  Barracks. 

The  young  second  lieutenant  did  not  have  to  be  urged 
to  repeat  his  visit.  In  fact  he  went  so  often  that  the 
road  between  the  Barracks  and  the  Dent  farm  became 
as  familiar  to  him  as  his  old  haunts  on  the  banks  of  the 
Hudson.  He  did  not  meet  Julia  Dent  at  first,  for  she 
was  absent  at  school,  but  he  found  enough  attraction  in 
a  sister  to  make  him  a  frequent  visitor. 

Then  came  the  eventful  day  when  he  met  seventeen- 
year-old  Julia.  The  courtship  was  by  no  means  a  long- 
drawn-out  affair ;  the  young  people  were  engaged  before 
Grant  was  ordered  to  the  Mexican  border,  though  the 
fact  was  not  announced  until  his  return  to  St.  Louis  in 
May,  1845.  The  marriage  took  place  in  August,  1848, 
after  the  close  of  the  Mexican  War. 

For  some  years  Mrs.   Grant  was  a  soldier's  wife. 


THROUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     363 

Grant  took  her  with  him  to  Detroit,  but  he  left  her  at 
her  old  home  in  St.  Louis  when  he  was  transferred  to 
the  Pacific  Coast.  In  1853  he  accepted  a  commission  as 
captain,  which  he  soon  resigned,  determining  to  return 
to  the  East.  Several  unfortunate  speculations  had  left 
him  without  funds,  and  he  was  indebted  to  a  friend  in 
San  Francisco  for  transportation. 

"  I  rejoined  my  family  to  find  in  it  a  son  whom  I  had 
never  seen,  born  while  I  was  on  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,"  Grant  said  in  his  "Personal  Memoirs."  "  I 
was  now  to  commence,  at  the  age  of  thirty-two,  a  new 
struggle  for  our  support.  My  wife  had  a  farm  near  St. 
Louis,  to  which  we  went,  but  I  had  no  means  to  stock  it. 
A  house  had  to  be  built  also.  I  worked  very  hard,  never 
losing  a  day  because  of  bad  weather,  and  accomplished 
the  object  in  a  moderate  way." 

After  working  as  a  farm  laborer  for  a  time,  he  built 
a  cabin  on  sixty  acres  given  to  Mrs.  Grant  by  her  father. 
"  Hardscrabble,"  as  he  called  the  four-room  log  house, 
was  the  home  of  the  Grant  family  for  several  years. 
This  cabin,  which  was  on  the  grounds  of  the  Louisiana 
Purchase  Exposition  at  St.  Louis,  and  White  Haven, 
must  both  be  counted  homes  of  the  family  at  this  period. 
Fred,  Nellie,  and  Jesse  Grant  were  all  born  in  White 
Haven. 

Eeady  money  was  scarce,  but  the  father  of  a  growing 
family  felt  the  necessity  of  providing  for  their  wants. 
"  If  nothing  else  could  be  done  I  would  load  a  cord  of 
wood  on  a  wagon  and  take  it  to  the  city  for  sale,"  he 
wrote  in  his  Memoirs.  "  I  managed  to  keep  along 
very  well  until  1858,  when  I  was  attacked  by  fever  and 
ague.  I  had  suffered  very  severely  and  for  a  long  time 
from  the  disease  while  a  boy  in  Ohio.  It  lasted  now, 


364        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

over  a  year,  and,  while  it  did  not  keep  me  in  the  house, 
it  did  interfere  greatly  with  the  amount  of  work  I  was 
able  to  perform.  In  the  fall  of  1858  I  sold  out  my  stock, 
crops  and  farming  utensils  at  auction,  and  gave  up 
farming." 

The  family  remained  at  White  Haven  for  a  time,  and 
Grant  tried  to  make  a  living  in  the  real  estate  business. 
His  partner  was  a  cousin  of  Mrs.  Grant.  The  income  of 
the  business  was  not  sufficient  for  two  families,  so  he 
soon  gave  up  the  attempt.  "  He  doesn't  seem  to  be  just 
calculated  for  business,  but  an  honester,  more  generous 
man  never  lived,"  was  the  remark  of  one  who  knew  him 
at  this  time. 

In  the  meantime  he  had  taken  his  family  to  St.  Louis. 
He  made  one  further  attempt  to  support  them  there. 
Learning  that  there  was  a  vacancy  in  the  office  of  county 
engineer,  he  applied  for  the  position,  but  the  appoint 
ment  was  to  be  made  by  the  members  of  the  county 
court,  and  he  did  not  have  sufficient  influence  to  secure 
it.  So  the  move  to  Galena,  Illinois,  in  May,  1860,  be 
came  necessary.  There,  in  the  leather  business,  he 
earned  but  eight  hundred  dollars  a  year.  And  he  had 
a  family  of  six  to  feed. 

A  year  later  he  responded  to  the  call  of  President 
Lincoln,  and  began  the  army  service  that  made  him 
famous. 

White  Haven  was  built  in  1808  by  Captain  John 
Long,  who  had  won  his  title  during  the  Revolution. 
Later  the  house  and  three  hundred  acres  of  the  original 
farm  were  sold  to  Frederick  Dent,  who,  at  one  period, 
had  ninety  slaves  in  the  slave  quarters  still  to  be  seen 
at  the  rear  of  the  house. 

Through  Mrs.  Grant  the  entire  property  came  into  the 


THEOUGH  THE  SUNNY  SOUTH     365 

possession  of  General  Grant.  At  the  time  of  the  failure 
of  Grant  &  Ward,  the  farm  was  pledged  to  William  H. 
Vanderbilt,  who  sold  it  to  Captain  Fuller  H.  Conn  of 
St.  Louis.  Captain  Conn  disposed  of  it  in  a  number 
of  parcels.  One  of  these,  containing  fifteen  acres  and 
the  old  homestead,  was  purchased  by  Albert  Wenzlick, 
who  makes  his  summer  home  in  the  house  where  Ulysses 
S.  Grant  met  Julia  Dent. 


EIGHT:  ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO 
NEW  ENGLAND 


In  verdurous  tumult  far  away 

The  prairie  billows  gleam, 
Upon  their  crests  in  blessing  rests 

The  noontide's  gracious  beam. 
Low  quivering  vapors  steaming  dim 

The  level  splendors  break 
Where  languid  lilies  deck  the  rim 
Of  some  land-circled  lake. 

Far  in  the  east  like  low-hung  clouds 

The  waving  woodlands  lie; 
Far  in  the  west  the  glowing  plain 

Melts  warmly  in  the  sky. 
No  accent  wounds  the  reverent  air, 

No  footprint  dints  the  sod, — 
Lone  in  the  light  the  prairie  lies, 

Wrapt  in  a  dream  of  God. 


JOHN  HAY. 


EIGHT:    ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND 


LXXXIV 

THE  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN  HOUSE,  SPRINGFIELD, 
ILLINOIS 

FROM  WHICH  PRESIDENT-ELECT  LINCOLN  WENT  TO 
WASHINGTON  IN  1861 

When  Abraham  Lincoln  entered  Springfield,  in  1837, 
he  did  not  own  a  house;  in  fact  he  did  not  own  much 
of  anything.  Joshua  Speed  is  quoted  by  Ida  Tarbell 
thus: 

"  He  had  ridden  into  town  on  a  borrowed  horse,  with 
no  earthly  property  save  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  contain 
ing  a  few  clothes.  .  .  .  Lincoln  came  into  the  store  with 
his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm.  He  said  he  wanted  to  buy 
the  furniture  for  a  single  bed.  The  mattress,  blankets, 
sheets,  coverlid,  and  pillow  .  .  .  would  cost  seventeen 
dollars.  He  said  that  perhaps  was  cheap  enough;  but 
small  as  the  price  was,  he  was  unable  to  pay  it.  But  if 
I  would  credit  him  till  Christmas,  and  his  experiment 
as  a  lawyer  was  a  success,  he  would  pay  then,  saying  in 
the  saddest  tone,  '  If  I  fail  in  this  I  do  not  know  that 
I  can  ever  pay  you.' ' 

The  storekeeper  thereupon  proposed  that  the  young 
lawyer  should  share  his  own  room  above  the  store.  Lin 
coln  promptly  accepted,  went  upstairs,  and  in  a  moment 


370        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

was  down  again.     With  dry  humor  he  said :  "  Well, 
Speed,  I  am  moved." 

Lincoln  longed  for  better  quarters,  however,  because 
he  wanted  to  be  married.  He  watched  with  interest  the 
new  buildings  that  were  going  up,  probably  reflecting 
sadly  that  none  of  them  were  for  him.  In  his  discour 
agement  he  wrote  to  Miss  Mary  Owen  of  New  Salem, 
to  whom  he  had  said  something  about  coming  to  live 
with  him  in  Springfield : 

"  You  would  have  to  be  poor,  without  the  means  of 
hiding  your  poverty.  Do  you  believe  you  could  bear 
that  patiently?  Whatever  woman  may  cast  her  lot  with 
mine,  should  any  ever  do  so,  it  is  my  intention  to  do  all 
in  my  power  to  make  her  happy  and  contented.  And 
there  is  nothing  I  can  imagine  that  would  make  me  more 
unhappy  than  to  fail  in  the  effort.  I  know  I  should  be 
much  happier  with  you  than  the  way  I  am,  provided  I 
saw  no  sign  of  discontent  in  you." 

Miss  Owen  declined  to  go  to  Springfield,  because  she 
felt  that  Lincoln  was  "  deficient  in  those  little  links 
which  make  up  the  chain  of  a  woman's  happiness." 

Five  years  later,  on  November  4,  1842,  Lincoln  mar 
ried  Miss  Mary  Todd,  a  member  of  a  prominent  Ken 
tucky  family,  who  had  come  to  Springfield  in  1839  to 
live  with  her  sister,  Mrs.  Ninian  W.  Edwards.  The 
house  in  which  she  spent  the  three  years  before  her  mar 
riage  was  one  of  the  handsomest  in  the  town,  and  was 
a  centre  of  social  gayety.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edwards  op 
posed  the  marriage  to  the  poor  and  plebeian  lawyer; 
they  urged  the  folly  of  exchanging  a  cultured  home  for 
the  surroundings  to  which  Lincoln  would  take  her.  But 
she  knew  her  own  mind,  and  she  went  with  Lincoln  to 
the  home  he  provided  for  her. 


AHItAHAM  LINCOLN  S  HOUSE,   SPKINCFIELD,   ILL. 


Photo  furnished  by  Frank   H.  Curtis,  Vincennes 
WILLIAM  HENRY  HARRISON'S  HOUSE,  VINCENNES,  IND.  See  page  376 


RUFUS  PUTNAM  S  HOUSE,  MARIETTA,  O. 


Photo  furnished  by  Miss  Willia  D.  Cotton,  Marietta 

See  page  377 


THE  SCHUYLER  MANSION,  ALBANY,  N.  Y. 


Photo  furnished  by  Hon.  Martin  H.  Glynn,  Albany 

See  page  891 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     371 

The  character  of  the  accommodations  to  which  he  took 
his  bride  is  revealed  by  a  letter  written  in  May,  1843 : 
"  We  are  not  keeping  house,  but  boarding  at  the  Globe 
Tavern.  .  .  .  Boarding  only  costs  four  dollars  a 
week." 

But  the  day  came  when  the  young  statesman  was  able 
to  open  for  Mrs.  Lincoln  the  door  of  their  own  modest 
one-story  house.  Later  a  second  story  was  added  under 
the  direction  of  his  wife,  most  of  the  work  being  done 
while  he  was  away  from  home,  riding  the  circuit. 

J.  G.  Holland's  pleasing  picture  of  life  in  the  home 
during  the  years  from  1850  to  1860  should  be  remem 
bered  : 

"  It  was  to  him  a  time  of  rest,  of  reading,  of  social 
happiness,  and  of  professional  prosperity.  He  was  al 
ready  a  father,  and  took  an  almost  unbounded  delight  in 
his  children.  The  most  that  he  could  say  to  any  rebel 
in  his  household  was,  '  You  break  my  heart,  when  you 
act  like  this.'  A  young  man  bred  in  Springfield  speaks 
of  a  vision  that  has  clung  to  his  memory  very  vividly. 
.  .  .  His  way  to  school  led  by  the  lawyer's  door.  On 
almost  any  fair  summer  morning  he  could  find  Mr.  Lin 
coln  on  the  sidewalk  in  front  of  his  house,  drawing  a 
child  backward  and  forward,  in  a  child's  gig.  Without 
hat  or  coat,  and  wearing  a  pair  of  rough  shoes,  his  hands 
behind  him  holding  on  to  the  tongue  of  the  gig,  and  his 
tall  form  bent  forward  to  accommodate  himself  to  the 
service,  he  paced  up  and  down  the  walk  forgetful  of 
everything  around  him.  The  young  man  says  he  remem 
bers  wondering  how  so  rough  and  plain  a  man  should 
live  in  so  respectable  a  house." 

Once  Lincoln  was  sitting  on  the  porch  when  three- 
year-old  Willie  escaped  from  the  bathtub,  ran  out  cf  the 
house  and  the  gate,  up  the  street,  and  into  a  field.  There 


372        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Ms  father  caught  him,  and  carried  him  home  on  his 
shoulder. 

The  children  liked  to  ride  on  his  shoulder,  and  they 
clambered  for  the  position.  If  they  could  not  get  there, 
they  contented  themselves  with  hanging  to  his  coat  tails. 
One  day  a  neighbor  heard  the  boys  crying,  and  asked 
what  was  the  matter.  "  Just  what's  the  matter  with 
the  whole  world,"  was  Lincoln's  reply.  "  I've  got  three 
walnuts,  and  each  wants  two." 

During  the  last  day  of  the  Republican  Convention  of 
1860,  which  was  in  session  in  Chicago,  Lincoln  was  in 
the  office  of  the  Springfield  Journal,  receiving  word  of 
the  progress  of  events.  A  messenger  came  in  and  said 
to  him,  "  The  Convention  has  made  a  nomination,  and 
Mr.  Seward  is — the  second  man  on  the  list !  "  After 
reading  the  telegram,  and  receiving  the  congratulations 
of  all  in  the  office,  Lincoln  spoke  of  the  little  woman  on 
Eighth  Street  who  had  some  interest  in  the  matter,  and 
said  he  would  go  home  and  tell  her  the  news. 

When  the  news  became  generally  known,  the  citizens 
followed  him  to  the  house  on  Eighth  Street.  In  the 
evening,  after  a  meeting  in  the  State  House,  the  Repub 
licans  present  marched  to  the  Lincoln  home.  The 
nominee  made  a  speech,  and  invited  as  many  as  could 
get  in  to  enter  the  house.  "  After  the  fourth  of  March 
we  will  give  you  a  larger  house,"  came  the  laughing 
response. 

Next  day  Lincoln  was  in  a  quandary.  Some  of  his 
friends  had  sent  him  a  present  of  wines  and  other 
liquors,  that  he  might  be  able  to  give  what  they  thought 
would  be  appropriate  refreshment  to  the  Committee  sent 
from  Chicago  to  notify  the  nominee.  Before  the  formal 
notification,  Lincoln  asked  the  members  what  he  should 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     373 

do  with  the  wine.  J.  G.  Holland  says  that  "  the  chair 
man  at  once  advised  him  to  return  the  gift,  and  to  offer 
no  stimulants  to  his  guests." 

A  few  years  later,  when  he  had  closed  the  house  which 
he  was  never  to  enter  again,  he  said  to  his  friends,  who 
had  gathered  at  the  train  to  say  good-bye : 

"  My  friends :  no  one,  not  in  my  situation,  can  appre 
ciate  my  feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this 
place,  and  the  kindness  of  these  people,  I  owe  every 
thing.  Here  I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and 
have  passed  from  a  young  to  an  old  man.  Here  my  chil 
dren  have  been  born,  and  one  is  buried.  I  now  leave, 
not  knowing  when  or  wrhether  ever  I  may  return,  with 
a  task  before  me  greater  than  that  which  rested  upon 
Washington.  Without  the  assistance  of  that  Divine 
Being  who  ever  attended  him,  I  cannot  succeed.  With 
that  assistance  I  cannot  fail.  Trusting  in  Him,  who 
can  go  with  me,  and  remain  with  you,  and  be  everywhere 
for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that  all  will  yet  be  well. 
To  His  care  commending  you,  as  I  hope  in  your  prayers 
you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you  an  affectionate  fare 
well." 

When  the  body  of  the  martyred  President  was  brought 
back  to  Springfield  on  May  3,  1865,  it  was  not  taken  to 
the  old  home  on  Eighth  Street,  but  to  the  State  Capitol, 
and  from  there  to  Oak  Ridge  Cemetery. 

The  house  is  now  the  property  of  the  State  of  Illinois, 
the  gift  of  Kobert  T.  Lincoln,  Abraham  Lincoln's  son. 


374        HISTOEIC  SHRINES  OF  AMEEICA 


LXXXV 

THE  GOVERNOR'S  PALACE  AT  VINCENNES, 
INDIANA 

WHERE  "  OLD  TIPPECANOE  "  WELCOMED  HIS  GUESTS 

William  Henry  Harrison,  son  of  Benjamin  Harrison, 
one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence, 
was  a  ward  of  Robert  Morris.  The  great  financier  op 
posed  the  young  man's  purpose  to  enlist  in  the  Ohio 
campaign  against  the  Indians  that  followed  the  war  of 
the  Revolution,  but  when  young  Harrison  applied  di 
rectly  to  Washington  he  was  appointed  ensign  and  sent 
to  the  front.  This  was  in  1791,  and  the  new  ensign  was 
but  nineteen  years  old. 

Gallant  conduct  during  a  campaign  of  four  years 
under  General  Anthony  Wayne  brought  to  him  promo 
tion  to  a  captaincy,  the  favor  of  his  general,  and  the 
command  of  Fort  Washington,  at  what  is  now  Cincin 
nati,  Ohio. 

This  post  was  resigned  in  1798,  when  there  seemed  no 
further  prospect  of  active  service.  Thereupon  Wash 
ington  appointed  the  twenty-four-year-old  captain  Sec 
retary  of  the  Northwestern  Territory  and  ex  officio  Lieu 
tenant  Governor.  When,  in  1800,  the  Northwestern 
Territory  was  divided,  he  was  nominated  by  Thomas 
Jefferson  Governor  of  Indiana  Territory,  including  what 
is  now  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  Iowa. 

Vincennes,  one  of  the  three  white  settlements  in  all 
this  vast  territory,  became  the  seat  of  government.  As 
Fort  Sackville  Vincennes  had  been  made  famous  during 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     375 

the  Revolution  by  the  brilliant  exploit  of  George  Rogers 
Clarke,  who  took  it  from  the  British  after  an  approach 
across  Illinois  and  through  the  flooded  valley  of  the 
Wabash,  for  which  he  will  ever  be  remembered  by  a 
grateful  country. 

For  thirteen  years  he  was  the  autocrat  in  his  remote 
outpost.  To  him  were  committed,  in  company  with  the 
Judge,  all  legislative  powers;  he  was  commander-in- 
chief  of  the  militia,  and  he  had  the  power  of  treaty- 
making  with  the  Indians.  His  signature  became  a  valid 
title  to  lands  in  the  Indian  country.  His  care  of  the 
interests  committed  to  him  was  so  satisfactory  that  the 
legislature  of  Indiana  asked  for  his  reappointment.  He 
was  especially  successful  in  dealing  with  the  Indians. 
The  victory  at  Tippecanoe  became  a  rallying  cry  when, 
in  1839,  he  was  nominated  for  the  Presidency. 

One  of  the  most  notable  events  of  his  career  as  Gov 
ernor  took  place  before  his  house  at  Vincennes.  The 
Indian  warrior  Tecumseh,  claiming  that  lands  ceded  by 
other  tribes  belonged  to  his  own  tribe,  threatened  venge 
ance  on  any  who  should  attempt  to  settle  on  these 
lands.  General  Harrison  sent  for  him,  promising  to 
give  him  a  careful  hearing  and  full  justice.  Accord 
ingly,  in  August,  1810,  Tecumseh  came  to  Vincennes, 
accompanied  by  several  hundred  warriors.  The  meet 
ing  of  the  Governor  and  the  Indians  took  place  in  front 
of  the  official  residence.  At  one  point  in  the  conference, 
Tecumseh,  being  angry,  gave  a  signal  to  his  warriors, 
who  seized  their  knives,  tomahawks,  and  war  clubs  and 
sprang  to  their  feet. 

The  Governor  rose  calmly  from  his  armchair,  drew  his 
sword,  and  faced  the  savage.  His  bearing  overawed  the 
Indians,  and  when  he  told  Tecumseh  that  he  could  have 


376        HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

no  further  conference  with  such  a  bad  man,  the  chief 
and  his  supporters  returned  to  their  camp. 

The  house  that  looked  down  on  this  scene  was  prob 
ably  the  first  house  of  burned  brick  built  west  of  the 
Alleghenies.  It  was  erected  in  1804,  at  a  cost  of  about 
twenty  thousand  dollars. 

The  walls  of  the  basement  are  twenty-four  inches 
thick;  the  upper  walls  are  eighteen  inches  thick.  The 
outer  walls  are  of  hard  red  brick.  The  doors,  sash,  man 
tels,  and  stairs  are  of  black  walnut,  and  are  said  to  have 
been  made  in  Pittsburgh. 

The  basement  contains  the  dining-room,  the  kitchen, 
in  which  hangs  the  old-fashioned  crane,  a  storeroom  in 
which  the  supplies  of  powder  and  arms  were  kept,  and 
four  servants'  bedrooms.  At  one  side  of  the  large  cellar 
is  the  entrance  to  a  tunnel  which  led  to  the  banks  of 
the  Wabash,  some  six  hundred  feet  distant.  This  was 
built,  so  tradition  says,  that  the  Governor  and  his  fam 
ily,  if  too  closely  pressed  by  Indians,  might  escape  to 
the  river  and  continue  their  flight  in  canoes.  This 
would  be  useful  also  for  the  carrying  in  of  water  and 
food  during  a  siege. 

On  the  first  floor  a  commodious  hallway  communi 
cates  on  the  left  with  the  Council  Chamber,  where 
notable  visitors  were  received.  This  was  also  the  cham 
ber  of  early  territorial  lawmakers.  Here,  in  1805,  by 
Rev.  Thomas  Clelland,  was  preached  the  first  Presby 
terian  sermon  in  what  is  now  the  State  of  Indiana. 

In  the  shutter  of  a  room  facing  the  rear  is  the  mark 
of  a  bullet  which,  it  is  said,  was  fired  by  an  Indian  who 
was  attempting  the  life  of  the  Governor,  while  that  of 
ficial  was  walking  the  floor  with  his  little  son  in  his 
arms. 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     377 

To-day  the  house  is  cut  off  from  the  city  by  railroad 
tracks  and  is  surrounded  by  factories.  Until  1916  it 
was  owned  by  the  Vincennes  Water  Company,  which 
proposed  to  raze  it  to  the  ground,  that  they  might  have 
room  for  extension.  Learning  of  this  purpose,  six  mem 
bers  of  the  Francis  Vigo  Chapter  of  the  Daughters  of 
the  American  Revolution  begged  the  City  Council  to 
buy  the  house  and  preserve  it.  When  the  Council  an 
nounced  that  the  way  was  not  open  to  do  this,  a  number 
of  patriotic  women,  led  by  Mrs.  Frank  W.  Curtis,  raised 
the  sum  necessary  for  the  purchase  of  the  property. 

Under  the  direction  of  the  Francis  Vigo  Chapter,  the 
house  has  been  restored,  and  opened  for  visitors.  It  is 
the  intention  to  maintain  it  for  the  inspiration  of  those 
who  visit  Vincennes  to  look  on  the  scene  of  the  wise 
labors  of  the  first  Governor  of  the  Indian  Territory. 


LXXXVI 

THE  HOUSE  OF  GENERAL  EUFUS  PUTNAM, 
MARIETTA,  OHIO 

THE  MAN  WHO  LED  THE  FIRST  PERMANENT  SETTLERS 
TO  OHIO 

In  1775  General  Washington  decided  that  he  must 
fortify  Dorchester  Heights,  Boston,  if  he  was  to  force 
the  British  to  leave  the  country.  But  how  was  he  to  do 
this?  The  ground  was  frozen  to  a  depth  of  eighteen 
inches,  and  the  enemy's  cannon  commanded  the  coveted 
position.  Lieutenant  Colonel  Putnam  told  the  General 
that  the  seemingly  impossible  task  could  be  performed. 


378        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Washington  was  dubious,  but  he  had  learned  that  Col 
onel  Putnam  was  to  be  counted  on.  One  night,  after 
dark,  the  work  was  begun,  and  before  daylight  it  was  so 
far  completed  that  the  surprised  enemy  were  compelled 
to  retire. 

In  recognition  of  services  like  this,  Colonel  Putnam 
was  made  a  brigadier  general.  A  reward  even  greater 
was  his;  he  won  the  lasting  friendship  of  Washington. 

Eight  years  after  the  fortification  of  Dorchester 
Heights,  two  hundred  and  eighty-three  officers  asked 
Congress  for  a  grant  of  land  in  the  western  country. 
General  Putnam  forwarded  the  petition  to  Washington, 
and  urged  that  it  be  granted,  in  order  that  "  the  country 
between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio  might  be  filled  with  in 
habitants,  and  the  faithful  subjects  of  the  United  States 
so  established  on  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  and  on  the  lakes 
as  to  banish  forever  the  idea  of  our  western  territory 
falling  under  the  dominion  of  any  European  power." 

Action  by  Congress  was  delayed.  On  June  2,  1784, 
Washington  wrote  to  Putnam : 

"  I  wish  it  was  in  my  power  to  give  you  a  more  favor 
able  account  of  the  officers'  petition  for  lands  on  the 
Ohio  and  its  water,  than  I  am  about  to  do.  ...  For 
surely  if  justice  and  gratitude  to  the  army,  and  general 
policy  of  the  Union  were  to  govern  in  the  case,  there 
would  not  be  the  smallest  interruption  in  granting  the 
request." 

Putnam  did  not  lose  heart.  His  next  step,  taken  in 
January,  1786,  was  to  call  a  meeting  of  officers  and  sol 
diers  and  others  to  form  an  Ohio  Company.  The  meet 
ing  was  held  at  the  Bunch  of  Grapes  Tavern,  in  Boston, 
March  1,  1786,  and  the  Ohio  Company  of  Associates  was 
duly  formed.  It  was  agreed  to  raise  a  fund  to  purchase 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     379 

from  Congress,  for  purposes  of  settlement,  the  western 
lands  which  Congress  had  been  asked  to  give  ^m. 

On  July  27,  1787,  a  tract  of  1,500,000  acre»  on  the 
Ohio  River,  between  the  Scioto  and  the  Muskingum 
rivers,  was  sold  to  the  Company  at  sixty-six  and  two- 
thirds  cents  per  acre.  Half  the  amount  was  paid  down. 
When,  later,  it  became  impossible  to  pay  the  remainder, 
Congress  gave  a  measure  of  relief. 

The  first  emigrants  to  go  to  the  new  lands  set  out 
from  Danvers,  Massachusetts,  December  1,  1787,  under 
the  guidance  of  General  Rufus  Putnam,  while  a  second 
party  started  from  Hartford,  Connectcut,  January  1, 
1788.  The  first  party  of  twenty-two  men  followed  the 
Indian  trail  over  the  Allegheny  Mountains  and  reached 
the  Youghiogheny  River,  on  January  23,  1788,  while 
the  second  party  of  twenty-eight  men,  making  better 
time,  joined  them  on  February  14.  Then  a  barge, 
called  the  Mayflower,  was  built,  forty-six  feet  long  and 
twelve  feet  wide.  A  cabin  was  provided  for  the  women 
of  the  party,  and  an  awning  was  stretched.  The  men 
propelled  the  boat  with  ten  oars. 

On  April  1  the  voyage  to  the  Ohio  was  begun,  and  on 
April  7  the  party  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum. 
The  barge  was  moored  to  the  bank,  opposite  Fort  Har- 
mar.  Thus  came  the  Massachusetts  pioneers  to  the 
town  of  which  Washington  wrote  later :  "  No  colony  in 
America  was  ever  settled  under  such  favorable  auspices 
as  that  which  has  just  commenced  at  Muskingum.  In 
formation,  property,  and  strength  will  be  its  character 
istics.  I  know  many  of  the  settlers  personally,  and 
there  never  were  men  better  calculated  to  promote  the 
welfare  of  such  a  community." 

Here  the  pioneers   laid  out  the  town   of  Marietta 


380        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

among  the  famous  Indian  mounds,  naming  it  in  honor 
of  Marie  Antoinette  of  France.  The  greatest  mound  of 
all  was  made  the  central  feature  of  Marie  Antoinette 
Square.  This  mound  is  thirty  feet  high,  while  the  cir 
cular  base  is  375  feet  in  circumference.  It  is  surrounded 
by  a  moat  fifteen  feet  wide  and  five  feet  deep.  Beyond 
the  moat  is  a  parapet  twenty  feet  thick  and  385  feet  in 
circumference.  This  square  was  leased  to  General  Put 
nam  for  twelve  years,  on  condition  that  he  "  surround 
the  whole  square  with  mulberry  trees  with  an  elm  at 
each  corner."  The  base  of  the  mound  was  to  be  encircled 
with  weeping  willows,  and  evergreens  were  .to  be  placed 
on  the  mound.  The  parapet  was  to  be  surrounded  with 
trees,  the  square  was  to  be  seeded  down  to  grass,  and 
the  whole  was  to  be  enclosed  with  a  post  and  rail  fence. 
This  effort  to  create  a  park  at  the  very  beginning  was 
an  unusual  feature  of  this  pioneer  experience. 

An  enclosure  of  logs,  with  a  log  fort  at  each  corner, 
was  built  for  protection  against  the  Indians.  Between 
the  corner  forts  were  the  cabins  occupied  by  the  various 
families.  The  forts  and  the  enclosure  were  named  the 
Campus  Martius.  One  of  the  early  houses  built  within 
this  stockade  became  the  home  of  General  Putnam. 

Marie  Antoinette  Square  soon  became  known  as 
Mound  Square.  General  Putnam  turned  over  his  lease 
to  the  town,  which  set  the  property  aside  as  a  cemetery. 
Many  of  the  settlers  had  died  during  two  epidemics  of 
smallpox,  and  there  was  need  of  a  cemetery  nearer  the 
town  than  the  ground  set  aside  at  the  beginning. 

It  is  claimed  that  more  officers  of  the  Revolution  have 
been  buried  in  the  Mound  Cemetery  than  in  any  other 
cemetery  in  the  country.  There  were  twelve  colonels, 
twelve  majors,  and  twenty-two  captains  among  the 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     381 

Marietta  pioneers.  When  General  Lafayette  was  in 
Marietta  in  1825,  the  list  was  read  to  him,  and  he  said : 
"  I  knew  them  all.  I  saw  them  at  Brandywine,  York- 
town,  and  Khode  Island.  They  were  the  bravest  of  the 
brave." 

Over  Putnam's  grave  is  the  following  inscription : 

Gen.  Rufus  Putnam 

A  Revolutionary  Officer 

And  the  leader  of  the 

Colony  which  made  the 

First  settlement  in  the 

Territory  of  the  Northwest. 

Born  April  9,  1738 

Died  May  4,  1824. 

The  house  occupied  by  "  the  Father  of  Ohio,"  as  he 
has  been  called,  is  preserved  as  a  historical  monument. 
In  1917  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolution  and 
Marietta  succeeded  in  persuading  the  Ohio  Legislature 
to  pass  a  bill  making  provision  for  its  repair  and  care. 


LXXXVII 

MONUMENT  PLACE,  ELM  GROVE,  WEST  VIRGINIA 

THE  PLANTATION  HOME  OF  TWO  MAKERS  OF  HISTORY 

At  Shepherdstown,  the  oldest  town  in  what  is  now 
West  Virginia,  Moses  Shepherd  was  born  on  November 
11,  1763.  His  grandfather  had  founded  the  town. 

When  Moses  was  about  seven  years  old  his  father, 
Colonel  Shepherd,  removed  his  large  family  to  his  plan- 


382        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

tation  between  Big  Wheeling  and  Little  Creek,  which  is 
now  included  within  the  limits  of  Elm  Grove.  On  the 
banks  of  the  creek  he  built  Fort  Shepherd,  that  the 
settlers  for  miles  around  might  have  a  place  of  refuge 
from  the  Indians.  Of  this  fort  Colonel  Shepherd  was 
in  command  till  it  was  destroyed  by  the  Indians  in  1777. 
The  family  was  hastily  removed  to  Fort  Henry,  nearer 
the  present  site  of  Wheeling.  There  they  were  hard 
pressed  by  the  Indians.  Moses,  along  with  other  chil 
dren,  assisted  in  the  defence  by  moulding  bullets  and 
carrying  ammunition. 

Word  went  out  to  the  neighboring  strongholds  of 
the  endangered  settlers  at  Fort  Henry.  Captain  John 
'Boggs,  then  at  Catfish  Camp  (now  Washington,  Penn 
sylvania),  hurried  to  the  assistance  of  Colonel  Shepherd 
with  forty  armed  men.  With  him  was  his  daughter, 
Lydia,  who  took  her  place  with  Moses  and  the  other 
young  people  as  an  assistant  to  the  defenders. 

She  was  there  when  Molly  Scott  made  her  sally  from 
the  fort  in  search  of  shot,  and  she  saw  the  heroine  bring 
it  in  in  her  apron.  She  witnessed  also  the  attempt  of 
Major  Samuel  McColloch  to  enter  the  fort  at  the  head 
of  a  squad  of  men  which  he  had  brought  from  Fort  Van 
Meter,  a  few  miles  away.  With  joy  she  saw  the  men 
enter  the  gate  of  the  fort,  and  her  heart  was  in  her 
mouth  when  she  saw  that  McColloch,  who  was  her 
cousin,  was  unable  to  follow  because  the  Indians  had 
managed  to  get  between  him  and  the  gate.  At  last  the 
gate  was  closed,  lest  the  Indians  gain  entrance,  and  the 
gallant  Major  was  left  to  his  fate. 

The  Indians  thought  they  could  capture  him  easily. 
They  hemmed  him  on  Wheeling  Hill,  on  three  sides.  On 
the  fourth  side  was  a  rocky  precipice  almost  sheer,  cov- 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     383 

ered  with  growth  of  trees  and  bushes.  But  the  savages 
were  not  to  have  such  an  easy  victory  after  all,  for 
Major  McColloch  urged  his  horse  over  the  brow  of  the 
steep  hill,  and,  to  the  astonishment  of  all,  slipped,  slid, 
and  fell  to  the  bottom,  where  the  way  across  the  creek 
and  to  safety  was  comparatively  easy. 

The  Indians  were  finally  driven  away,  but  not  until 
Moses  Shepherd  had  made  the  acquaintance  of  Lydia 
Boggs,  his  companion  in  service  at  the  fort.  They  were 
married  later.  In  1798,  after  the  death  of  Colonel 
David  Shepherd,  Colonel  Moses  Shepherd  took  her  to 
the  palatial  new  home  built  on  the  site  of  the  second 
Fort  Shepherd,  near  the  banks  of  Wheeling  Creek.  This 
house,  which  was  called  at  first  the  Shepherd  Mansion 
or  the  Stone  House,  later  became  known  as  the  Monu 
ment  Place. 

The  story  of  the  third  name,  which  still  persists,  is 
interesting.  When,  during  Jefferson's  administration, 
certain  farsighted  statesmen  advocated  the  building  of 
a  National  Highway  which  should  connect  Washington 
with  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  Colonel  Shepherd  be 
came  one  of  the  earnest  and  influential  advocates  of  the 
road.  He  was  a  friend  of  Henry  Clay,  to  whose  inde 
fatigable  advocacy  of  the  road  was  due  much  of  the 
success  of  the  venture.  Clay  was  frequently  a  guest  of 
the  Shepherds,  and  in  the  stately  stone  house  he  talked 
with  them  about  the  difficulties,  progress,  and  final 
triumph. 

When  the  road  was  an  accomplished  fact  Colonel  and 
Mrs.  Shepherd  caused  to  be  built  on  the  lawn  a  stone 
monument  dedicated  to  their  friend,  in  appreciation  of 
his  service.  The  monument,  whose  inscriptions  have 
become  illegible,  is  in  plain  sight  from  the  Cumberland 


384        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Road,  or,  as  it  came  to  be  called,  the  National  Road, 
just  before  it  makes  a  sharp  turn  to  cross  the  sturdy 
stone  bridge  over  Little  Wheeling  Creek.  Possibly  this 
was  one  of  the  bridges  Colonel  Shepherd  constructed. 
At  any  rate  he  was  a  contractor  for  a  section  of  the 
road,  and  several  bridges  were  erected  by  him. 

Along  the  Cumberland  Road,  which  was  the  great 
highway  between  the  East  and  the  West,  travelled  home- 
seekers  outward  bound  and  business  men  and  politicians 
to  whom  Washington  beckoned  irresistibly.  Among  the 
regular  travellers  at  this  and  later  periods  were  Andrew 
Jackson,  William  Henry  Harrison,  General  Houston, 
James  K.  Polk,  and  others  who  made  it  a  point  never  to 
pass  the  Shepherd  Mansion  without  stopping.  One  of 
the  early  politicians  who  frequented  the  house,  attracted 
there  by  Mrs.  Shepherd,  said :  "  She  had  a  powerful  in 
tellect  in  her  younger  days.  Many  of  our  caucuses  were 
held  in  her  drawing-room.  She  could  keep  a  secret 
better  than  most  women,  but  her  love  of  sarcasm  and 
intrigue  kept  her  from  being  very  effective." 

Mrs.  Shepherd,  in  fun,  had  criticisms  to  offer  of  some 
of  her  visitors.  Once  she  spoke  of  Burton,  Clay,  and 
Webster  as  "  those  young  men,  promising,  but  crude, 
crude." 

She  was  accustomed  to  go  every  winter  with  her  hus 
band  to  Washington,  where  she  would  spend  a  few 
months  during  the  season.  They  always  travelled  in  a 
coach  and  four  and  they  lived  in  great  style  at  the 
Capital.  There  she  was  sought  for  her  beauty,  for  her 
eccentricities,  and  her  familiarity  with  private  political 
life. 

Colonel  Shepherd  died  in  1832.  In  1833  Mrs.  Shep 
herd  married  General  Daniel  Cruger,  a  New  York  Con- 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     385 

gressman,  who  spent  the  last  years  of  his  life  in  West 
Virginia. 

After  the  General's  death  in  1843  Mrs.  Cruger  lived 
at  Monument  Place,  receiving  visitors  as  of  old,  and 
increasing  in  the  eccentricities  that  kept  any  one  from 
being  her  warm  admirer.  Always  she  proved  herself  an 
unusual  woman.  "  If  fate  had  placed  her  in  the  com 
pressed  centre  of  a  court,  instead  of  in  the  inconse 
quent  hurly-burly  of  a  republic,  she  would  have  made 
for  herself  a  great  place  in  history,"  Mrs.  Rebecca 
Harding  Davis  once  wrote  of  her. 

She  was  still  managing  a  large  plantation  during  the 
Civil  War,  when  a  visitor  dropped  in  to  see  her  who  has 
left  the  following  picture  of  what  she  saw : 

"  We  saw  a  well-built  house  of  dressed  stone,  very 
large  and  solid,  with  the  usual  detached  kitchen  and 
long  row  of  '  negro  quarters/  .  .  . 

"  Mrs.  Cruger's  age  was  told  by  the  skin  of  face  and 
hands,  which  were  like  crumpled  parchment,  but  the  lips 
were  firm  and  the  eyes,  deep  set  in  wrinkled  lids,  were 
still  dark  and  keen.  She  was  then  one  hundred  years 
old. 

"  We  went  up  to  see  the  ball-room,  which  was  across 
the  \vhole  front  of  the  house,  with  many  windows  and  a 
handsome  carved  marble  mantel  at  each  end,  and  deep 
closets  on  both  sides  of  these  fire-places. 

"  Like  Queen  Elizabeth,  Mrs.  Cruger  would  seem  to 
have  kept  all  her  fine  clothes.  The  whole  walls  were 
hung  thick  with  dresses  of  silk  and  satin  and  velvet 
pelisses  trimmed  with  fur;  braided  riding-habits; 
mantles  of  damasked  black  silk;  band-boxes  piled  from 
floor  to  ceiling  full  of  wonderful  bonnets,  some  of  tre 
mendous  size,  fine  large  leghorn  straw,  costing  from 
fifty  to  one  hundred  dollars ;  also  veils  that  would  reach 
to  the  knee  of  fine  old  English  lace;  gold  and  silver 


386        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

ruching;  and  fine  embroidered  cashmere  turbans,  a  per 
fect  museum  of  fashion  from  1800  to  1840." 

To  another  visitor  Mrs.  Cruger  explained  that  it  had 
long  been  her  custom  to  put  aside  each  year  two  gowns 
made  in  the  fashion  of  that  year. 

In  her  old  age  she  liked  to  be  alone.  Frequently  she 
would  send  every  one  from  the  house  that  she  might 
bathe  at  night.  Once  her  physician  urged  her  to  keep 
her  maid  near  her.  "  Why?  "  she  asked;  "  because  I  am 
afraid?  afraid  of  what?  of  death?  Death  will  not  come 
to  me  for  twenty  years  yet."  She  was  then  ninety  years 
old,  and  she  lived  to  be  nearly  one  hundred  and  two. 
She  is  buried,  by  the  side  of  her  two  husbands,  in  Old 
Stone  Church  Cemetery  on  the  hill  above  Elm  Grove. 
A  rough  monument  carries  inscriptions  to  the  memory 
of  the  three  pioneers  whose  lives,  as  has  been  pointed 
out  by  a  local  historian,  "  covered  the  Indian  War,  the 
Colonial  Period,  the  War  of  the  American  Revolution, 
the  War  of  1812,  the  Mexican  War,  and  the  Civil  War." 


LXXXVIII 

THE  CASTLE  AT  FORT  NIAGARA,  NEW  YORK 

THE  OLDEST  BUILDING  IN  THE  NORTHERN  UNITED  STATES, 
WEST  OF  THE  MOHAWK 

"  The  story  of  Fort  Niagara  is  peculiarly  the  story  of 
the  fur  trade  and  the  strife  for  commercial  monopoly," 
Frank  H.  Severance  of  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society 
said  in  an  address  delivered  at  the  fort  in  1896;  "and 
it  is,  too,  in  considerable  measure,  the  story  of  our 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     387 

neighbor,  the  magnificent  colony  of  Canada.  ...  It 
is  a  story  replete  with  incidents  of  battle  and  siege,  of 
Indian  cruelty,  of  patriot  captivity,  of  white  men's  du 
plicity,  of  famine,  disease,  and  death, — of  all  the  varied 
forms  of  misery  and  wretchedness  of  a  frontier  post, 
which  we  in  days  of  ease  are  wont  to  call  picturesque 
and  romantic.  It  is  a  story  without  a  dull  page,  and 
it  is  two  and  a  half  centuries  long.  ...  I  cannot  better 
tell  the  story  .  .  .  then  to  symbolize  Fort  Niagara  as 
a  beaver  skin,  held  by  an  Indian,  a  Frenchman,  an  Eng 
lishman,  and  a  Dutchman,  each  of  the  last  three  trying 
to  pull  it  away  from  the  others  (the  poor  Dutchman 
early  bowled  over  in  the  scuffle),  and  each  European 
equally  eager  to  placate  the  Indian  with  fine  words,  with 
prayers,  or  with  brandy,  or  to  stick  a  knife  into  his 
white  brother's  back." 

The  story  begins  in  1669,  with  the  first  efforts  of  the 
French  to  secure  possession  of  the  Niagara  country.  It 
includes  also  the  romance  of  the  building  of  the  Griffon, 
the  first  vessel  on  the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  episode  of 
the  early  fortification  of  the  late  seventeenth  century. 
But  it  was  not  until  1726,  the  year  of  the  building  of 
the  stone  castle  near  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara  River, 
that  the  fort  had  its  real  beginning.  The  French  felt 
compelled  to  build  the  fort  because  the  activity  of  the 
English  was  interfering  with  their  own  fur  trade  with 
the  Indians,  and  their  plan  to  build  Fort  Oswego  would 
increase  the  difficulty.  No  time  was  to  be  lost;  Gov 
ernor  Joncaire  felt  that  he  could  not  wait  for  the  ap 
proval  of  the  authorities  at  home.  To  these  latter  he 
sent  word  that  he  must  build  a  fortress,  and  he  asked 
for  an  appropriation;  to  the  Indians  he  declared  that 
he  wished  to  have  a  mere  trading  station.  His  real  pur- 


388        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

pose  was  indicated  when  he  wrote  to  France  that  the 
building  "  will  not  have  the  appearance  of  a  fort,  so  that 
no  offence  will  be  given  to  the  Iroquois,  who  have  been 
unwilling  to  allow  any  there,  but  it  will  answer  the 
purpose  of  a  fort  just  as  well." 

The  first  step  was  the  construction  of  two  barques  for 
use  on  Lake  Ontario,  to  carry  stone  and  timber  for  the 
building,  and  later,  to  cruise  on  the  lake  and  intercept 
traders  bound  for  Oswego. 

After  the  construction  of  the  barques  had  been  begun, 
the  consent  of  the  five  Iroquois  nations  was  secured. 
Longueuil  promised  them  that  it  would  be  to  them  "  a 
House  of  Peace "  down  to  the  third  generation  and 
farther.  To  Gaspard  Chaussegros  de  Lery,  engineer, 
was  committed  the  building  of  the  structure.  He  deter 
mined  to  make  it  fireproof.  "  Instead  of  wooden  parti 
tions  I  have  built  heavy  walls,  and  paved  all  the  floors 
with  flat  stone,"  he  wrote  in  a  report  sent  to  France. 
The  loft  was  paved  with  flat  stones  "  on  a  floor  full  of 
good  oak  joists,  upon  which  cannon  may  be  placed  above 
the  structure." 

The  trade  with  the  Indians  at  the  completed  stone 
house  on  the  Niagara  increased.  So  did  the  activities 
of  the  English.  Governor  Burnet  of  New  York  craftily 
persuaded  the  Onondaga  Indians  that  their  interests  had 
been  endangered  by  the  building  of  the  French  fort, 
since  it  penned  them  up  from  their  chief  hunting-place, 
and  was  therefore  contrary  to  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht; 
they  agreed  with  him  that  the  Iroquois  had  no  right  to 
the  territory,  which  was  really  the  property  of  the  Sene- 
cas,  and  they  asked  the  Governor  to  appeal  to  King 
George  to  protect  them  in  their  right. 

Therefore  the  suggestion  was  made  that  they  "  submit 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     389 

and  give  up  all  their  hunting  country  to  the  King,"  and 
sign  a  deed  for  it.  Accordingly  Seneca,  Cayuga,  and 
Onondaga  sachems  deeded  to  the  English  a  sixty-mile 
strip  along  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  which  in 
cluded  the  Niagara  frontier,  the  Niagara  Kiver  being 
the  western  boundary. 

"  From  this  time  on  the  '  stone  house  '  was  on  British 
soil ;  but  it  was  yet  to  take  the  new  owner  a  generation 
to  dispossess  the  obnoxious  tenant/'  Frank  H.  Severance 
writes  in  "  An  Old  Frontier  of  France." 

The  story  of  the  next  thirty  years  is  a  story  of  plots 
and  counter-plots,  of  expeditions  threatened  and  actual, 
of  disappointing  campaigns,  of  imprisonment  and 
cruelty  and  death.  More  than  once  Indians  promised 
the  English  that  the  house  at  Niagara  should  be  razed. 
Spies  reported  that  the  defences  at  the  castle  were  in 
bad  shape;  "  'tis  certain  that,  should  the  English  once 
attack  it,  'tis  theirs,"  one  report  ran.  "  I  am  informed 
that  the  fort  is  so  dilapidated  that  'tis  impossible  to 
put  a  pin  in  it  without  causing  it  to  crumble ;  stanchions 
have  been  obliged  to  be  set  up  against  it  to  support  it." 
Another  report  disclosed  that  if  the  cannon  were  fired 
the  walls  would  crumble. 

But  the  French  were  not  ready  to  give  up.  They  felt 
that  Fort  Niagara  was  the  key  to  the  Ohio  Valley,  which 
they  wished  to  control.  They  strengthened  the  defences 
of  the  fort.  The  defeat  of  Braddock  at  Fort  Du  Quesne 
and  the  strange  decision  of  General  Shirley  to  stop  at 
Oswego  instead  of  continuing  with  his  force  to  Niagara, 
gave  the  French  a  new  lease  of  life. 

In  1759  came  the  end  of  French  rule.  General  Pri- 
deaux's  expedition  from  New  York  began  the  siege  of 
the  fort  early  in  July,  and  after  several  weeks  it  capitu- 


390        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

lated.  Until  1796  the  English  flag  floated  above  the 
"  castle.''  The  commander  of  this  post,  like  the  com 
manders  of  six  other  forts,  refused  on  various  pretexts 
to  surrender  to  America,  in  spite  of  the  terms  of  the 
treaty  of  1783.  Attempts  were  made  to  secure  posses 
sion,  but  none  of  them  were  successful,  and  it  was  not 
until  1794  that  Great  Britain  agreed  to  evacuate  Niag 
ara  and  the  other  forts  still  held,  "  on  or  before  the  1st 
of  June,  1796." 

Seventeen  years  later,  in  1813,  the  British  flag  again 
replaced  the  Stars  and  Stripes  over  the  historic  building, 
but  the  fort  was  restored  to  the  United  States  in  1815. 
Since  that  time  it  has  been  a  part  of  the  army  post  that 
has  been  more  important  because  of  its  history  than  for 
any  other  reason. 

The  Daughters  of  the  War  of  1812  have  placed  a  suit 
able  tablet  on  the  Old  Castle,  and  are  interested  in  the 
proposition  that  has  been  made  to  turn  the  venerable 
edifice  into  an  international  museum,  which  shall  com 
memorate  the  one  hundred  years  of  peace  between  Great 
Britain  and  America. 

In  1917  the  eyes  of  the  nation  were  once  more  turned 
on  the  fort  by  Lake  Ontario,  for  it  was  made  a  training 
ground  for  officers  who  were  to  be  sent  to  the  battle 
front  in  France  and  Belgium.  The  castle,  nearly  two 
hundred  years  old,  and  strong  as  ever,  again  wit 
nessed  the  gathering  of  patriots,  and  the  spot  that  had 
echoed  to  the  tread  of  French  who  had  yielded  to  the 
English,  of  English  who  had  driven  out  the  French,  and 
of  Americans  who  had  driven  out  the  English,  became 
the  parade  ground  of  Americans  who  were  making  ready 
to  stand  side  by  side  with  French  and  English  for  the 
freedom  of  the  world. 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     391 

LXXXIX 

THE  SCHUYLEE  MANSION,  ALBANY,  NEW  YORK 
THE  RALLYING  PLACE  OF  THE  CONSTITUTIONALISTS 

When  Catherine  Van  Eensselaer  married  Philip 
Schuyler,  on  September  17,  1755,  he  was  a  soldier  who 
had  been  engaged  in  the  campaign  against  the  French 
at  Crown  Point.  She  was  glad  when  he  resigned,  in 
1756,  but  he  returned  to  army  life  in  1758  and  at  inter 
vals  for  more  than  twenty  years  he  continued  his  mili 
tary  service.  Two  days  after  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
Congress  made  him  a  major-general.  During  his  three 
years  in  the  army  of  the  Colonies,  he  was  the  subject  of 
continual  abuse  on  the  part  of  those  who  felt  that  he 
had  conducted  carelessly  his  expedition  to  Canada  and 
the  campaign  against  Burgoyne.  He  was  able  to  stand 
up  against  the  public  clamor  because  Washington  had 
confidence  in  him  and  because  he  was  twice  given  a  clean 
bill  of  health  by  a  court  of  inquiry. 

During  this  season  of  misunderstanding  he  was  sus 
tained  by  his  wife,  who  was  a  remarkable  assistant  both 
in  his  home  and  in  public  affairs.  During  the  years 
when  he  was  frequently  incapacitated  by  gout  she  car 
ried  on  much  of  his  work  for  him,  and  so  enabled  him  to 
maintain  his  place  in  the  councils  of  the  nation. 

It  was  in  1760  that  Mrs.  Schuyler  first  showed  her 
great  executive  ability.  While  her  husband  was  absent 
in  England,  where  he  had  been  sent  by  General  Brad- 
street,  she  superintended  the  erection  of  a  new  house,  a 


392         HISTOKIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

spacious  mansion  of  yellow  brick  that  is  to-day  as 
staunch  as  when  it  was  built. 

From  the  beginning  the  Schuyler  mansion,  the  home 
of  the  first  citizen  of  Albany,  was  noted  because  of  the 
boundless  hospitality  of  its  mistress.  All  were  wel 
comed  who  sought  its  doors.  One  notable  company  was 
made  up  of  nine  Catawba  warriors  from  South  Carolina, 
who  were  on  their  way  to  ratify  a  covenant  with  the  Six 
Nations  at  the  close  of  the  Cherokee  War.  They  were 
met  at  the  wharf  by  Major  Schuyler  and  taken  directly 
to  the  house. 

Among  the  visitors  to  Albany  in  1776  were  three 
Commissioners  appointed  by  Congress  to  visit  the  Army 
of  the  North,  one  of  whom,  Benjamin  Franklin,  was  so 
wearied  by  the  journey  from  Philadelphia  that  he  was 
sincerely  grateful  for  Mrs.  Schuyler's  care.  One  of  the 
Commissioners  said  later  of  General  Schuyler,  "  He  lives 
in  pretty  style,  and  has  two  daughters,  Betsey  and 
Peggy,  lively,  agreeable  gals."  He  was  delighted  to 
learn  that  the  motto  of  Philip  Schuyler  and  his  house 
hold  was,  "  As  for  me  and  my  house,  we  will  serve 
our  country." 

Another  of  the  fortunate  men  who  were  privileged  to 
be  in  the  house  for  a  season  was  Tench  Tilghman,  an 
aide-de-camp  of  General  Washington.  He  wrote  in  his 
journal  of  "  Miss  Ann  Schuyler,  a  very  Pretty  Young 
Lady.  A  brunette  with  dark  eyes,  and  a  countenance 
animated  and  sparkling,  as  I  am  told  she  is."  Later  he 
met  "  Miss  Betsey,  the  GeneraPs  2nd  Daughter."  "  I 
was  prepossessed  in  favor  of  the  Young  Lady  the  mo 
ment  I  saw  her,"  he  said.  "  A  Brunette  with  the  most 
good  natured  dark  lovely  eyes  I  ever  saw,  which  threw 
a  beam  of  good  temper  and  Benevolence  over  her  entire 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     393 

countenance.  Mr.  Livingstone  informed  me  that  I  was 
not  mistaken  in  my  Conjecture  for  she  was  the  finest 
tempered  Girl  in  the  World." 

Tench  Tilghman  was  to  renew  the  acquaintance  in 
1779,  when  Betsey  and  her  parents  spent  a  few  months 
in  Morristown,  New  Jersey.  Alexander  Hamilton  also 
was  there,  and  he  secured  Betsey's  promise  to  be  his 
bride. 

The  marriage  took  place  at  the  Albany  homestead  on 
December  14,  1780.  A  few  months  later  the  young  hus 
band,  having  resigned  from  the  army,  was  studying  law 
in  Albany  and  was  a  welcome  addition  to  the  Schuyler 
household. 

Two  years  after  the  wedding  came  one  of  the  inci 
dents  that  has  made  the  mansion  famous.  Because  of 
the  General's  influence  with  the  Indian  allies  of  the 
British,  a  number  of  attempts  were  made  to  capture 
him;  the  British  wished  to  put  him  where  he  could  not 
interfere  with  their  plans.  One  summer  day,  when  Mrs. 
Carter,  Mrs.  Hamilton's  sister  Margaret,  was  in  the 
house  with  her  baby  Philip,  a  party  of  Tories,  Cana 
dians,  and  Indians  surrounded  the  house  and  forced 
an  entrance.  Mary  Gay  Humphreys,  in  "  Catherine 
Schuyler,"  tells  what  followed : 

"  The  house  was  guarded  by  six  men.  Their  guns 
were  in  the  hall,  the  guards  being  outside  and  the  relief 
asleep.  Lest  the  small  Philip  be  tempted  to  play  with 
the  guns  his  mother  had  them  removed.  The  alarm  was 
given  by  a  servant.  The  guards  rushed  for  their  guns, 
but  they  were  gone.  The  family  fled  upstairs,  but  Mar 
garet,  remembering  the  baby  in  the  cradle  below,  ran 
back,  seized  the  baby,  and  when  she  was  halfway  up  the 
flight,  an  Indian  flung  his  tomahawk  at  her  head,  which, 


394        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

missing  her,  buried  itself  in  the  wood,  and  left  its  his 
toric  mark  to  the  present  time." 

After  the  attack  on  the  mansion  Washington  wrote  to 
General  Schuyler,  begging  him  to  strengthen  his  guard. 
The  following  year  the  Commander-in-chief  was  a  guest 
at  the  mansion,  while  in  1784  he  spent  the  night  there, 
after  an  evening  consultation  with  Schuyler,  while  Mrs. 
Washington  visited  with  her  friend  Mrs.  Schuyler. 

Lafayette,  Count  de  Rochambeau,  Baron  Steuben, 
Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton,  John  Jay,  and  Aaron 
Burr  had  a  taste  of  the  delights  of  life  at  the  mansion. 
The  latter  was  destined  to  defeat  General  Schuyler  for 
reelection  to  the  Senate,  as  he  was  to  be  in  turn  de 
feated  by  the  General.  The  British  General  Burgoyne 
and  his  staff  also  were  entertained  in  the  mansion,  after 
General  Schuyler's  victory  at  Saratoga,  and  this  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  much  of  the  General's  property  had  been 
destroyed  by  Burgoyne's  order. 

For  many  years  the  house  was  famous  as  the  meeting 
place  of  the  friends  of  the  young  nation.  Frequent  con 
ferences  were  held  in  the  library  on  the  proposed  consti 
tution.  It  is  said  that  many  sections  of  the  document 
were  written  there  by  Hamilton,  and  the  steps  of  the 
campaign  for  the  ratification  of  the  document  were  out 
lined  within  the  historic  walls.  When,  at  last,  the  vic 
tory  was  complete,  General  Schuyler  and  Alexander 
Hamilton  walked  at  the  head  of  the  gay  procession  that 
hailed  the  news  with  joy.  The  whole  town  was  illumi 
nated,  but  the  most  brilliantly  lighted  building  was  the 
old  mansion. 

During  the  years  that  followed  General  Schuyler's 
health  failed  gradually,  and  he  became  more  than  ever 
dependent  on  his  wife.  When  she  died,  in  1803,  he  did 


WENTWORTH  HOUSE,  PORTSMOUTH,  X.  H. 


Photo  by  Hnlliday  Historic  Photograph  Company 
See  page  395 


WARNER  HOUSE,  PORTSMOUTH,   X.  II. 


J'fioto  by  Frank  Cousins  Art  Company 
See  page  395 


• I 


riioto  Copyriulit  l»j  Detroit  Photographic  Company 


WADSWORTH-LONGFELLOW  HOUSE,  PORTLAND,  ME. 


See  page  400 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     395 

not  know  what  to  do  without  her.     To  Hamilton  he 
wrote : 

"  My  trial  has  been  severe.  I  shall  attempt  to  sustain 
it  with  fortitude.  I  hope  I  have  succeeded  in  a  degree, 
but  after  giving  and  receiving  for  nearly  a  half  a  cen 
tury,  a  series  of  mutual  evidences  of  affection  and 
friendship  which  increased  as  we  advanced  in  life,  the 
shock  was  great  and  sensibly  felt,  to  be  thus  suddenly 
deprived  of  a  beloved  wife,  the  Mother  of  my  children, 
and  the  soothing  companion  of  my  declining  years.  But 
I  kiss  the  rod  with  humility.  The  Being  that  inflicted 
the  stroke  will  enable  me  to  sustain  the  smart,  and 
progressively  restore  peace  to  my  wounded  heart,  and 
will  make  you  and  Eliza  and  my  other  children  the  in 
struments  of  my  Consolation.  .  .  . " 

General  Schuyler  died  in  November,  1804,  four 
months  after  the  duel  with  Burr  in  which  Hamilton  was 
slain. 

The  mansion  in  which  he  spent  so  many  happy  years 
was  long  an  orphan  asylum,  but  in  1911  it  was  pur 
chased  by  the  State.  On  October  17,  1917,  it  was  dedi 
cated  as  a  State  Monument. 


XC 

THE  WENTWORTH  HOUSE,  PORTSMOUTH, 
NEW  HAMPSHIRE 

THE  SCENE  OF  THE  ROMANCE  OF  LADY  WENTWORTH 

When,  in  1750,  Governor  Benning  Wentworth  began 
to  rebuild  for  his  mansion  at  Little  Harbor,  two  miles 
from  the  business  centre  of  Portsmouth  a  farm-house 


396        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

which  dated  from  the  latter  part  of  the  sixteenth  cen 
tury,  he  thought  more  of  comfort  than  of  architecture. 
Evidently  those  who  later  added  to  the  house  thought  as 
little  of  architecture  as  the  original  builder ;  the  product 
became  such  a  strange  conglomeration  of  wings  and 
"  L's  "  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  which  is  the  original 
portion.  Once  the  house  contained  fifty-two  rooms,  but 
a  portion  has  been  torn  away,  and  the  structure  as  it 
stands  is  not  quite  so  spacious,  though  still  large  enough 
for  a  hotel.  Even  the  cellar  is  tremendous,  for  Gov 
ernor  Wentworth  provided  there  a  place  for  his  horses, 
to  be  used  in  time  of  danger.  Thirty  animals  could  be 
accommodated  there. 

Many  of  the  rooms  are  small,  but  some  are  of  impres 
sive  size,  notably  the  Council  Chamber,  where  meetings 
that  helped  to  make  history  were  held,  and  the  billiard 
room,  where  the  owner  and  his  associates  were  accus 
tomed  to  go  when  the  strain  of  business  became  too 
great. 

Longfellow  thus  describes  the  house : 

"It  was  a  pleasant  mansion,  an  abode 
Near  and  yet  hidden  from  the  great  high-road, 
Sequestered  among  trees,  a  noble  pile, 
Baronial  and  colonial  in  its  style ; 
Gables  and  dormer-windows  everywhere, 
And  stacks  of  chimneys  rising  high  in  air — 
Pandaean  pipes,  on  which  all  winds  that  blew 
Made  mournful  music  the  whole  winter  through. 
Within,  unwonted  splendors  met  the  eye, 
Panels,  and  floors  of  oak,  and  tapestry ; 
Carved  chimney-pieces,  where  on  brazen  dogs 
Revelled  and  roared  the  Christmas  fire  of  logs; 
Doors  opening  into  darkness  unawares, 
Mysterious  passages,  and  flights  of  stairs, 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     397 

And  on  the  walls,  in  heavy  gilded  frames, 

The  ancestral  Wentworths  with  Old-Scripture  names/' 

While  Governor  Wentworth  was  an  important  figure 
during  the  days  preceding  the  Revolution,  the  mansion 
is  celebrated  not  so  much  because  of  his  political  service 
as  because  of  the  romance  of  his  second  marriage. 

Martha  Hilton,  the  heroine  of  the  romance,  was  "  a 
careless,  laughing,  bare-footed  girl."  One  day  a  neigh 
bor  saw  her,  in  a  short  dress,  carrying  a  pail  of  water 
in  the  street.  "  You,  Pat !  You,  Pat !  Why  do  you  go 
looking  so?  You  should  be  ashamed  to  be  seen  in  the 
street ! "  was  the  shocked  comment.  But  the  answer 
was  not  what  the  neighbor  expected.  "  No  matter  how 
I  look,  I  shall  ride  in  my  chariot  yet,  Marm." 

The  story  of  what  followed  is  told  by  Charles  W. 
Brewster,  a  historian  of  old  Portsmouth : 

"  Martha  Hilton  afterwards  left  home,  and  went  to 
live  in  the  Governor's  mansion  at  Little  Harbor,  doing 
the  work  of  the  kitchen,  and  keeping  the  house  in  order, 
much  to  the  Governor's  satisfaction.  .  .  .  The  Governor 
has  invited  a  dinner  party,  and  with  many  other  guests, 
in  his  cocked  hat  comes  the  beloved  Kev.  Arthur  Brown, 
of  the  Episcopal  church.  The  dinner  is  served  up  in  a 
style  becoming  the  Governor's  table.  .  .  .  There  is  a 
whisper  from  the  Governor  to  a  messenger,  and  at  his 
summons  Martha  Hilton  comes  in  from  that  door  on 
the  west  of  the  parlor,  and,  with  blushing  countenance, 
stands  in  front  of  the  fireplace.  She  seems  heedless  of 
the  fire — she  does  not  appear  to  have  brought  anything 
in,  nor  does  she  seem  to  be  looking  for  anything  to  carry 
out — there  she  stands!  a  damsel  of  twenty  summers — 
for  what,  no  visitor  can  tell. 

"  The  Governor,  bleached  by  the  frosts  of  sixty 
winters,  rises.  (  Mr.  Brown,  I  wish  you  to  marry  me.' 


398        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

i  To  whom?'  asks  his  pastor,  in  wondering  surprise. 
'  To  this  lady,'  was  the  reply.  The  rector  stood  con 
founded.  The  Governor  became  imperative.  <  As  the 
Governor  of  New  Hampshire  I  command  you  to  marry 
me ! '  The  ceremony  was  then  duly  performed,  and 
from  that  time  Martha  Hilton  became  Lady  Went- 
worth." 

Longfellow's  record  of  the  incident  is  given  in  the 
poem,  "  Lady  Wentworth  "  : 

' t  The  years  came  and  .   .   .  the  years  went,  seven  in  all, 
And  all  these  years  had  Martha  Hilton  served 
In  the  Great  House,  not  wholly  unobserved: 
By  day,  by  night,  the  silver  crescent  grew, 
Though  hidden  by  clouds,  the  light  still  shining  through ; 
A  maid  of  all  work,  whether  coarse  or  fine, 
A  servant  who  made  service  seem  divine! 
Through  her  each  room  was  fair  to  look  upon ; 
The  mirrors  glistened,  and  the  brasses  shone, 
The  very  knocker  at  the  outer  door, 
If  she  but  passed,  was  brighter  than  before." 

Then  came  the  strange  marriage  scene: 

' '  Can  this  be  Martha  Hilton  ?     It  must  be ! 
Yes,  Martha  Hilton,  and  no  other  she ! 
Dowered  with  the  beauty  of  her  twenty  years, 
How  ladylike,  how  queenlike  she  appears; 
The  pale,  thin  crescent  of  the  days  gone  by 
Is  Dian  now  in  all  her  majesty! 
Yet  scarce  a  guest  perceived  that  she  was  there 
Until  the  Governor,  rising  from  his  chair, 
Played  slightly  with  his  ruffles,  then  looked  down 
And  said  unto  the  Reverend  Arthur  Brown : 
'  This  is  my  birthday :  it  shall  likewise  be 
My  wedding-day,  and  you  shall  marry  meF  " 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     399 

Governor  Wentwortli  died  in  1770,  three  years  after 
the  coming  to  America  of  Michael  Wentworth,  a  retired 
colonel  in  the  British  Army.  Mrs.  Wentworth  married 
him,  and  he  became  the  second  lord  of  the  mansion. 
During  his  residence  there  Washington  was  welcomed 
to  the  house,  one  day  in  1789. 

Martha  Wentworth,  the  only  daughter  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Michael  Wentworth,  married  Sir  John  Wentworth, 
an  Englishman,  and  they  lived  in  the  old  house  until 
1816,  when  the  property  passed  to  a  family  of  another 
name. 

There  are  a  number  of  houses  in  Portsmouth  which 
tell  of  the  ancient  glories  of  different  branches  of  the 
Wentworth  family.  Perhaps  the  most  famous  is  the 
Warner  house,  which  was  begun  in  1718  by  Captain 
Archibald  Macpheadris,  and  was  finished  in  1723,  at  a 
cost  of  £6,000.  Mrs.  Macpheadris  was  Sarah  Went 
worth,  one  of  the  sixteen  children  of  Lieutenant  Gov 
ernor  John  Wentworth,  and  sister  of  Governor  Benning 
Wentworth.  Their  daughter,  Mary,  married  Hon. 
Jonathan  Warner,  who  was  the  next  occupant  of  the 
house.  The  property  is  known  by  his  name,  rather  than 
that  of  the  builder — perhaps  because  it  is  so  much  easier 
to  pronounce !  The  house  is  now  occupied  by  Miss  Eva 
Sherburne,  a  descendant  of  the  original  owner. 

The  Warner  house  has  a  lightning  rod,  which  was  put 
up  in  1762,  under  the  personal  supervision  of  Benjamin 
Franklin.  It  is  said  that  this  was  the  first  lightning 
rod  erected  in  New  Hampshire. 


400         HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 


XCI 

THE  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW  HOUSE, 
PORTLAND,  MAINE 

WHERE  HENRY  WADSWORTH  LONGFELLOW  SPENT 
HIS  BOYHOOD 

The  old  house  by  the  linden  They  walked  not  under  the  linden, 

Stood  silent  in  the  shade,  They  played  not  in  the  hall; 

And  on  the  gravelled  pathivay  But  shadow  and  silence,  and  sad- 

The  light  and  shadow  played.  ness 

Were  hanging  over  all. 
I  saw  the  nursery  windows 

Wide  open  to  the  air;  The  Urds  sang  in  the  branches, 

But  the  faces  of  the  children,  With  sweet  familiar  tone; 

They  were  no  longer  there.  But  the  voices  of  the  children 

Will  be  heard  in  dreams  alone! 
The    large    Newfoundland    house 
dog  And  the  boy  that  walked  beside  me, 

Was  standing  by  the  door;  He  could  not  understand 

He  looked  for  his  little  playmates  Why  close  in  mine,  ah!  closer, 

Who  would  return  no  more.  I  pressed  his  little  hand! 

When  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  wrote  these 
lines  perhaps  he  was  thinking  of  the  home  of  his  boy 
hood  in  Portland,  which  his  grandfather,  General  Peleg 
Wadsworth,  built  in  1785. 

The  house  was  the  wonder  of  the  town,  for  it  was  the 
first  brick  building  erected  there.  The  brick  had  been 
brought  from  Virginia.  Originally  there  were  but  two 
stories ;  the  third  story  was  added  when  the  future  poet 
was  eight  years  old. 

Longfellow  was  born  in  the  house  at  the  corner  of 
Fourth  and  Hancock  streets,  but  he  was  only  eight 
months  old  when  he  was  carried  within  the  inviting 
front  doors  of  the  Wadsworth  house,  and  the  mansion 
was  home  to  him  for  at  least  thirty-five  years. 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     401 

He  was  only  five  years  old  when  he  declared  that  he 
wanted  to  be  a  soldier  and  fight  for  his  country.  The 
War  of  1812  was  then  in  progress.  His  aunt  wrote  one 
day,  "  Our  little  Henry  is  ready  to  march ;  he  had  his 
gun  prepared  and  his  head  powdered  a  week  ago." 

But,  agreeing  with  his  parents  that  school  was  a 
better  place  for  him  than  the  army,  he  began  his  studies 
when  he  was  five  years  old.  A  year  later  his  teacher 
gave  him  a  certificate  which  read: 

"  Master  Henry  Longfellow  is  one  of  the  best  boys  we 
have  in  school.  He  spells  and  reads  very  well.  He 
also  can  add  and  multiply  numbers.  His  conduct  last 
quarter  was  very  correct  and  amiable." 

Life  in  the  Longfellow  home  was  delightful.  Samuel 
Longfellow,  the  poet's  brother,  has  given  a  pleasing 
picture : 

"  In  the  evenings  the  children  gathered  with  their 
books  and  slates  round  the  table  in  the  family  sitting 
room.  The  silence  would  be  broken  for  a  minute  by 
the  long,  mysterious  blast  of  a  horn  announcing  the 
arrival  in  town  of  the  evening  mail,  then  the  rattle  of 
its  passing  wheels,  then  silence  again,  save  the  singing 
of  the  wood  fire.  Studies  over,  there  would  be  games 
till  bedtime.  If  these  became  too  noisy,  or  the  father 
had  brought  home  his  law  papers  from  the  office,  enjoin 
ing  strictest  quiet,  then  there  was  flight  to  another  room 
—perhaps,  in  winter,  to  the  kitchen,  where  hung  the 
crane  over  the  coals  in  the  broad  old  fireplace,  upon 
whose  iron  back  a  fish  forever  baked  in  effigy. 

"  When  bedtime  came,  it  was  hard  to  leave  the  warm 
fire  to  go  up  into  the  unwarmed  bedrooms ;  still  harder 
next  morning  to  get  up  out  of  the  comfortable  feather 
beds  and  break  the  ice  in  the  pitchers  for  washing.  But 
hardship  made  hardihood.  In  summer  it  was  pleasant 


402        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

enough  to  look  out  from  the  upper  windows;  those  of 
the  boys'  room  looked  out  over  the  Cove  and  the  farms 
and  woodlands  toward  Mount  Washington,  full  in  view 
on  the  western  horizon;  while  the  eastern  chambers 
commanded  a  then  unobstructed  view  of  the  bay,  White 
Head,  Port  Prebble,  and  the  lighthouse  on  Cape  Eliza 
beth." 

One  day  in  1820,  when  the  family  was  gathered  about 
the  fire,  Henry  was  on  tiptoe  with  eager  excitement.  He 
had  written  a  poem  and  had  sent  it  to  The  Portland 
Gazette.  Would  it  be  in  the  paper  which  his  father 
had  in  his  hand  as  he  seated  himself  before  the  fire? 
Robertson,  in  his  life  of  the  poet,  has  described  those 
anxious  moments: 

"  How  carefully  his  father  unfolded  the  damp  sheet, 
and  how  carefully  he  dried  in  at  the  fire  ere  beginning 
to  read  it!  And  how  much  foreign  news  there  seemed 
to  be  in  it !  At  last  Henry  and  a  sympathetic  sister  who 
shared  his  secret,  obtained  a  peep  over  their  parent's 
shoulder — and  the  poem  was  there !  " 

There  are  sixteen  rooms  in  the  old  house.  In  Henry's 
day  these  rooms  were  heated  by  eight  fireplaces,  which 
consumed  thirty  cords  of  wood  during  the  long  winter. 
On  the  first  floor  are  the  great  living-room,  the  kitchen 
with  its  old  fireplace,  and  the  den,  once  the  dining-room. 
On  the  desk  still  shown  in  this  room  Longfellow  wrote, 
in  1841,  "  The  Rainy  Day,"  whose  opening  lines  are : 

' '  The  day  is  cold,  and  dark,  and  dreary, 
It  rains,  and  the  wind  is  never  weary ; 
The  vine  still  clings  to  the  mouldering  wall, 
But  at  every  gust  the  dead  leaves  fall, 
And  the  day  is  dark  and  dreary. " 


ALL  THE  WAY  BACK  TO  NEW  ENGLAND     403 

Into  the  ground  floor  rooms  have  been  gathered  many 
relics  of  the  days  when  the  poet  was  a  boy.  The  four 
rooms  of  the  second  floor  are  also  full  of  mementoes. 
But  the  most  interesting  part  of  the  house  is  the  third 
story,  where  there  are  seven  rooms.  To  this  floor  the 
four  children  made  their  way  on  summer  nights  when 
the  long  hours  af  daylight  invited  them  to  stay  up 
longer,  and  on  winter  evenings,  when  the  fire  downstairs 
seemed  far  more  inviting  than  the  cold  floors  and  the 
colder  sheets. 

One  of  these  rooms  is  pointed  out  as  the  poet's  cham 
ber.  Here  he  wrote  many  of  his  earlier  poems.  Among 
these  was  "  The  Lighthouse."  In  this  he  described 
sights  in  which  he  delighted,  sights  the  lighthouse  daily 
witnessed : 

"And  the  great  ships  sail  outward  and  return 

Bending  and  bowing  o'er  the  billowing  swell, 
And  ever  joyful  as  they  see  it  burn, 

They  wave  their  silent  welcome  and  farewell. 

' '  '  Sail  on, '  it  says,  '  sail  on,  ye  stately  ships ! 

And  with  your  floating  bridge  the  ocean  span; 
Be  mine  to  guard  the  light  from  all  eclipse, 
Be  yours  to  bring  man  nearer  unto  man.'  J 

During  the  years  after  1843,  when  Longfellow  bought 
the  Craigie  House  at  Cambridge,  his  thoughts  turned 
back  with  longing  to  the  old  home  and  the  old  town,  and 
he  wrote : 

"Often  I  think  of  the  beautiful  town 

That  is  seated  by  the  sea ; 
Often  in  thought  go  up  and  down 

The  pleasant  streets  of  the  dear  old  town, 
And  my  youth  comes  back  to  me. ' ' 


404        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

For  nineteen  years  after  the  poet's  death  his  sister 
Ann,  Mrs.  Pierce,  lived  in  the  old  home.  When  she  died, 
in  1901,  she  deeded  it  to  the  Maine  Historical  Society, 
that  the  place  might  be  made  a  permanent  memorial  of 
the  life  of  The  Children's  Poet. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


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Page  &  Company,  New  York. 
Early  American  Churches.    By  Aymar  Embury,  II.     Doubleday,  Page  & 

Company,  New  York. 
Early   Ecclesiastical   Affairs   in   New   Castle,   Delaware.      By   Thomas 

Holcomb.     Wilmington,  1890. 

First  American,  The;  His  Homes  and  His  Households.     By  Leila  Her 
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Hamilton,  Alexander,  Intimate  Life  of.     By  Allan  McLane  Hamilton. 

Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 
Hawthorne,  Study  of.     By  George  Parsons  Lathrop.     Houghton,  Mifflin 

Company,  Boston. 

Hearths  and  Homes  of  Old  Lynn.    By  Nathan  Mortimer  Hawkes. 
Henry,  Patrick,  Life  of.     By  William  Wirt.     New  York,  1834. 
Historic  Buildings  of  America.     By  Esther  Singleton.     Dodd,  Mead  & 

Company,  New  York. 
Historic  Churches  of  America.     By  Nellie  Urner  Wallington.     Duffield 

&  Company,  New  York. 

Historic  Churches  of  America.     H.  L.  Everett,  Philadelphia. 
Historic   Homes   of   New   England.     By   Mary   H.    Northend.      Little, 

Brown  &  Company,  Boston. 

Historic  Houses  of  New  Jersey.    By  W.  Jay  Mills.    Duffield  &  Company, 
New  York. 

407 


408        HISTORIC  SHRINES  OF  AMERICA 

Historic  Mansions  and  Buildings  of  Philadelphia.     By  T.  A.  Westcott. 

Walter  H.  Barr,  Philadelphia. 
Historic  Virginia  Homes  and  Churches.     By  Robert  A.  Lancaster,  Jr. 

J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 
History  of  Kentucky.     By  Collins.     Covington,  1878. 
History  of  the  National  Capital.    By  W.  B.  Bryan.    Macmillan  &  Com 
pany,  New  York. 

Homes  of  American  Statesmen.     George  P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  Domestic  Life  of.    By  Sarah  N.  Randolph.    Harper  & 

Brothers,  New  York. 
Jefferson  at   Monticello.     By   Hamilton   W.   Pierson,   D.   D.      Charles 

Scribner's  Sons,  New  York. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  by  Ida  M.  Tarbell.     Doubleday,  Page  &  Company, 

New  York. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  Life  of.    By  J.  G.  Holland.    Springfield,  Mass.,  1866. 
Lowell,   James  Russell,  and  His  Friends.     By  Edward  Everett  Hale. 

Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  Boston. 
Madison,  Dolly.     By  Maud  Welch  Goodwin.     Charles  Scribner's  Sons, 

New  York. 
Madison,  Dolly,  Memoirs  and  Letters  of.     Edited  by  her  Grandniece. 

Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  Boston. 
Mason,  George,  Life  of.    By  Kate  Mason  Rowland.    George  P.  Putnam's 

Sons,  New  York. 

New  Orleans,  the  Place  and  the  People.    By  Grace  King.    J.  B.  Lippin 
cott  Company,  Philadelphia. 
Octagon,   The.     By   Glenn   Brown,   American   Institute   of   Architects, 

Washington. 
Old  Boston  Days  and  Ways.     By  Mary  Caroline   Crawford.     Little, 

Brown  &  Company,  Boston. 
Old  Churches  and  Families   of  Virginia.     By  Bishop   Meade.     J.   B. 

Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 
Old  Frontier  of  France,  An.     By  Frank  H.  Severance.     Dodd,  Mead  & 

Company,  New  York. 
Old  Roads  from  the  Heart  of  New  York.    By  Sarah  Comstock.     George 

P.  Putnam's  Sons,  New  York. 
Old  Roads  out  of  Philadelphia.     By  John  T.  Faris.     J.  B.  Lippincott 

Company,  Philadelphia. 
Old  Trails  on  the  Niagara  Frontier.    By  Frank  H.  Severance.    Buffalo,  ' 

New  York. 
Penn,  William,  The  True.    By  Sidney  George  Fisher.    J.  B.  Lippincott 

Company,  Philadelphia. 
Presidents,  Lives  of  the.    By  W.  0.  Stoddard.     F.  A.  Stokes  Company, 

New  York. 
Princeton.     By  Varnum  Lansing   Collins.     Oxford   University  Press, 

New  York. 
Rambles  about  Portsmouth.     By  Charles  W.  Brewster.     Portsmouth, 

1873. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  409 

Read,  George,  of  Delaware,  Life  and  Correspondence  of.  By  William 
Thompson  Read.  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 

Revere,  Colonel  Paul,  Life  of.  By  Elbridge  H.  Goss.  J.  G.  Cupples, 
Boston. 

Romantic  Days  in  Old  Boston.  By  Mary  Caroline  Crawford.  Little, 
Brown  &  Company,  Boston. 

Schuyler,  Catherine.  By  Mary  Gay  Humphreys.  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons,  New  York. 

Story  of  the  Bronx.  By  Stephen  Jenkins.  George  P.  Putnam's  Sons, 
New  York. 

Tayloe,  Benjamin  Ogle,  a  Biography.  By  Priestley  Prentis.  Wash 
ington,  1872. 

Thames,  Battle  of,  The.     By  Colonel  Bennett  H.  Young.     Filson  Club 

Publications,  Louisville,  Kentucky. 
Tylers,  Letters  and  Times  of  the.     By  Lyman  G.  Tyler.     Whittet  & 

Shepperson,  Richmond. 
Washington  after  the  Revolution.     By  William   Spohn  Baker.     J.   B. 

Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 
Washington,   the   Capitol    City.      By   Rufus    Rockwell    Wilson.      J.    B. 

Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 
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Company,  Boston. 

West  Virginia  Historical  Magazine,  January,  1903. 
Whittier,  John  Greenleaf.     By  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson.     Mac- 

millan  &  Company,  New  York. 
Where    American    Independence    Began.     By    Daniel    Munro    Wilson. 

Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  Boston. 
Williamsburg,   the   Old   Colonial   Capital.     By   Lyman   Gordon   Tyler. 

Whittet  &  Shepperson,  Richmond. 
Worthy  Women  of  the  Last  Century.     By  Mrs.  O.  J.  Wister  and  Miss 

Agnes  Irwin.     J.  B.  Lippincott  Company,  Philadelphia. 


INDEX 


Abraham   Lincoln  House,   Spring 
field,  Illinois,  369 
Acrostic,  23 

Adams  House,  Cambridge,  Massa 
chusetts,  44 

Adams,  Abigail,  20,  48,  230 
Adams,   John,   20,   24,   25,   44,   45, 
47,  52,  150,  160,  226,  230,  305, 
329 
Adams,  John   Quincy,   45,  47,  48, 

232 

Adams,  Samuel,  20,  26,  27 
Alamo,   the,    San  Antonio,   Texas, 

347 

Alamo,  battle  of  the,  348 
Alcott,  Bronson,  64 
American    Revolution,    Daughters 

of  the,  125,  377,  381 
American     Standard,      Richmond, 

Virginia,    295 

Amesbury,  Massachusetts,  56 
Amstel  House,  New  Castle,  Dela 
ware,  205 

Andros,   Governor,   19,  34,  35 
Annapolis,  Maryland,   226 
Arlington,   Virginia,   246 
Asbury,  Bishop  Francis,  244 
Ashland,      Lexington.      Kentucky, 

355 

Aubrey,  William,   148 
Audubon,  John  James,  187 

Bakewell,  Mary,  190 

Bell,     Mary,     mother     of     George 

Washington,   251 
Bells  of   St.   Philip's,   romance  of 

the,    334 
Bennet-Boardman   House,    Saugus, 

Massachusetts,  69 
Bennet,  Samuel,  70 
Berrian,  John,    137 
Biglow  Papers,  38 
Bill  of  Rights,  Virginia's,  284 
"  Birds    of    America,"    Audubon's 

preparation  for,  190 


Blair,  Rev.  James,  289,  291 
Boardman,   Abijah,   71 
Boone,   Daniel,   360 
Boonesborough,  Kentucky,  360 
Boston,  Brattle  Street  meeting,  29 

fire  of  1761,  30 

Gazette,  30 

Massacre,  19,  31 

News  Letter,  28 

North  Church,  27 

North   Square,   28 

Old  South  Church,   31 

Port  Bill,  25,  73,  271 

Tea  Party,   24,   31,   34,   37,   68, 

73 

Boudinot,  Elias,  43,   120 
Braddock,  General,  115,  253 
Braintree,  Massachusetts,  46. 
Brandon,  Virginia,  281 
Breck,  Samuel,  183 
Brewton,  Miles,  336 
Brick   Capitol,  the,  228 
British  at  Monticello,  324 
Broadhearth,    Saugus,    Massachu 
setts,  69 

Broadstreet,  Simon,  69 
Brown,   Richard,   82 
Brown  University,   83 
Bruton  Parish,  Virginia,  288 
Budden,  Captain,  165 
Bunker  Hill,  26,  68 
Burgoyne,  General,  34,  179,  391 
Burlington,  New  Jersey,  226 
Burr,  Aaron,  90,  131,  394 
Byrd,  Evelyn,  279 

Cabildo,  New  Orleans,  Louisiana, 

343 

Cabot,  Arthur,  37 
Caldwell,  New  Jersey,  church  at, 

119 

Caldwell,  Rev.  James,  119 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  36,   73 
Campfield  House,  Morristown,  New 

Jersey,  126 


411 


412 


INDEX 


Canonicus,  81 

Capitol  at  Washington,  225 
Carleton,  Sir  Guy,   108,   110 
Carpenters'  Company  of  the  City 
and    County   of   Philadelphia, 
149 
Carpenters'     Hall,     Philadelphia, 

149 

Carroll,   Charles,  216 
Carter,  Elizabeth  Hill,  279 
Carter,  Landon,  278 
Carter's  Grove,  Virginia,  280 
Cartwright,    Peter,   352 
Castle  at  Fort  Niagara,  New  York, 

386 

Chaplains:  James  Caldwell,  139 
George  Duffield,  160 
Charles  River,  27 
Charleston,  Massachusetts,  27 
Chastellux,  Marquis  de,  107,  279, 

324 

Chew,  Benjamin,  Jr.,  159 
Chew,   Joseph,   93 
Chew,   Samuel,   156 
Christ    Church,    Alexandria,    Vir 
ginia,   249 
Christ   Church,  Philadelphia,   153, 

199 
Christmas,  the  first,  at  Bethlehem, 

Pennsylvania,    197 
Church  furnishings,  primitive,  95, 

121 

Churches:     Old  North,  Boston,  27, 
32;  Old  South,  Boston,  20,  24, 
32 ;  King's  Chapel,  Boston,  32 ; 
West,  Boston,  37 
Old  South,  Newburyport,  Massa 
chusetts,  75 
First        Baptist,        Providence, 

Rhode  Island,  80 
St.  Paul's  Chapel,  New  York,  95 
St.    Martins-in-the-Fields,    Lon 
don,  95 

Trinity  Church,  New  York,  96 
Caldwell,  New   Jersey,   119   ' 
Old     Tennent,     Freehold,     New 

Jersey,  122 
Springfield  Meeting  House,  New 

Jersey,   138 

St.  Peter's,  Philadelphia,  153 
Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  153 
Old    Pine    Street,    Philadelphia, 

159 
Norriton  Presbyterian,  172 


Moravian   at  Bethlehem,   Penn 
sylvania,  196 

Emmanuel,    New    Castle,    Dela 
ware,  204 

Presbyterian,  New  Castle,  Dela 
ware,   205 

Rehoboth,  Delaware,  211 
Christ  Church,  Alexandria,  Vir 
ginia,  277,  294 
Pohick,  Virginia,  249,  311 
St.  John's,  Richmond,  264 
Bruton  Parish,  Virginia,  288 
Monumental,     Richmond,     Vir 
ginia,  277,  294 
Pohick  Church,  Virginia,  311 
St.  Luke's,  Smithfield,  Virginia, 

318 
St.   Peter's,   New  Kent   County, 

Virginia,  318 
St.  Michael's,  Charleston,  S.  C., 

333 
Huguenot,      Charleston,      South 

Carolina,   333 
St.   Philip's,    Charleston,    South 

Carolina,  333,  340 
Independent,  Savannah,,  Georgia, 

340 
Old  Stone  Church,  Elm  Grove, 

West  Virginia,  386 
Clark,   George  Rogers,   360 
Clay,  Henry,  308,  355,  383 
Clermont,  the,  234 
Cleveland,  Stephen  Grover,  122 
Clinton,  General  George,  107 
Clinton,   Sir  Henry,   337 
Cliveden,.    Germantown,    Philadel 
phia,  156 

Clock  on  Independence  Hall,  Phil 
adelphia,  166 
Coddington,  William,  49 
College     of     New     Jersey,      130, 

297 
College  Customs  at  Nassau  Hall, 

130 

Collins,  Varnum  Lansing,   130 
Colonial  Dames  of  Massachusetts, 

53 

Concord,  Massachusetts,  26,  27 
Congress  at  Princeton,   New  Jer 
sey,   133 
Constitutional        Convention        of 

1787,   168 

Continental   Congress,  83,  93,   150 
Conway  Cabal,  182 


INDEX 


413 


Cordale,  Thomas,  213 

Cornwallis,  Lord,  134,  293 

Council  of  Safety,  Philadelphia, 
172,  193 

Courtship  of  Alexander  Hamilton 
and  Elizabeth  Schuyler,  128 

Crab  Orchard,  Kentucky,  360 

Craigie,  Andrew,  41 

Craigie  House,  Cambridge,  Massa 
chusetts,  40,  403 

Crockett,  David,  350 

Crown  Point,  23 

Cumberland  Road,  384 

Cunningham,   Ann   Pamela,   245 

Curtis,  George  William,  64 

Custis,  George  Washington  Parke, 
246,  255 

Custis,  Nelly,  219 

Daily  Advertiser,  New  York,  87 

Daily  American  Advertiser,  Phila 
delphia,  196 

Dartmouth,  ship,  24 

Daughters  of  the  American  Revo 
lution,  90,  377,  381 

Daughters  of  the  War  of  1812,  390 

Decatur,   Stephen,    154 

Declaration  of  Independence,  37, 
48,  132,  167,  216,  325 

Dent,  Fred,  362 

Desecration  of  Carpenters'  Hall, 
152 

Desecration  of  the  Capitol,  229 

Dexter,  Thomas,  69 

Diaries: 

of  John  Tudor,  19 

of  Albigence  Waldo,  182 

of   George   Washington,   21,   89, 

218,  313 

of  John  Adams,  45 
of  Robert  Breck,  184 
of  Tench  Tilghman,  392 

Dix,  Dr.  Morgan,  96 

Dorchester  Heights,  Massachu 
setts,  68 

Doughoregan  Manor,  Maryland, 
216 

Dowry  of  pine-tree  shillings,  50 

Duche",  Rev.  Jacob,  150,  154 

Duffield,  Rev.  George,   160 

Dunlap,  William,  137 

Du  Ponceau,  Peter  S.,  176 

Duston  Garrison  House,  Haverhill, 
Massachusetts,  56 


Duston,  Hannah,  56 
Duston,  Thomas,   56 

East  India  Company,  31 

Eden,   Governor  Robert,  221 

Edwards,  Jonathan,  75 

Elizabeth  Town,  New  Jersey,  120, 
139 

Elmwood,  Cambridge,  Massachu 
setts,  36 

Emerson,  Ralph  WTaldo,  33 

Emlen  House,  Pennsylvania,  178 

Emmanuel  Church,  Newcastle, 
Delaware,  204 

Everett,  Edward,  41 

Expenses  in  raising  the  Tower  of 
the  State  House,  Philadel 
phia,  164 

Fairmount  Park,  Philadelphia, 
148 

Faneuil,  Andrew,  28 

Faneuil,  Peter,  28,  35 

Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  20,  28,  30, 
31,  34 

Fatlands,  near  Philadelphia,  187 

Federal  District,  location  of  the, 
226 

Fernside  Farm,  Haverhill,  Massa 
chusetts,  54 

First  Baptist  Church,  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  80 

Fitch,  John,  234 

Flag,  American,  89 

Flag,  first  American  in  British 
waters,  78 

Flint,  Ruth,  54 

Flynt,  Tutor,  51 

Ford  Mansion,  Morristown,  New 
Jersey,  126 

Forks  of  the  Delaware,  196 

Fort  Washington,  New  York  City, 
89 

Fort  William  and  Mary,  26 

Fox,  George,  212 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  34,  52,  97, 
115,  172,  235,  392,  399 

Fraunces,  Samuel,  98 

Fraunces'  Tavern,  New  York,  97 

Freeman,  Rev.  James,  36 

"From  Greenland's  Icy  Moun 
tains,"  342 

Gage,  General,  37,  43 


414 


INDEX 


Gano,   Rev.   Stephen,  83 
Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  22,  55 
Gazette,  Boston,  30 
Gazette,  Essex,  25 
Gazette,  New  York,  95,  99 
Gazette  of  the  United  States,  256 
Gazette,  Portland,  Maine,  402 
Gazette,    Williamsburg,    Virginia, 

262 

Germantown,  battle  of,  157,  180 
Germantown,  Pennsylvania,  226 
Gerry,  Elbridge,  37,  73 
Girard  College,   Philadelphia,  229 
Glover,  Colonel,  42 
Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  362 
Green,  General,  42 
Greenway,  Virginia,  257 
Griffon,  building  of  the,  387 
Gunston  Hall,  Virginia,  281 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  37 
Hallet,  Stephen  L.,  226 
Hamilton,     Alexander,     100,     127, 

393 

Hamilton,  Allan  MacLane,  101 
Hancock,  John,  20,  24,  26,  27,  34, 

45,  52,  53 
Hanover    Court    House,    Virginia, 

262 

"  Hardscrabble,"    St.    Louis,    Mis 
souri,  363 

Harlem  Heights,  battle  of,  88 
Harmar,  Fort,  379 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  263,  281 
Harrison  Mansion,  the,  Vincennes, 

Indiana,  374 
Harrison,     William    Henry,     360, 

374 

Harte,  Bret,  140 
Harvard  College,  38 
Hasbrouck,  Jonathan,  107 
Haverhill  Historical  Society,  60 
Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  56 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  40,  61 
Hay,  Henry  Hanby,  205 
Headquarters :       Washington's    at 

Roger     Morris     House,     New 

York,  88 
Washington's  at  Richmond  Hill, 

New  York,  99 
Washington's  at  Van  Cortlandt 

House,  New  York,  105 
Washington's  at  Newburgh,  New 

York,  107. 


Washington's     at     Morristown, 

New  Jersey,  126 
Washington's     at     Rocky     Hill, 

New  Jersey,   134 
Washington's     at     Rocky     Hill, 

New  Jersey,  137 
Washington's  at   Valley   Forge, 

174 

Washington's  at  Pennypacker's 
Mills,  Dawesfield,  and  Emlen 
House,  178 

Heijt,  Hans  Joest,  178 
Henricopolis,  Virginia,  266 
Henry,    Patrick,    264,    266,     268, 
271,  283,   285,   290,   305,   309, 
314 

Henry,  William,  179 
Herald,   the    San   Antonio,   Texas, 

348 

Hermitage,    The,    Nashville,    Ten 
nessee,  351 
Hoban,  James,  architect  of  White 

House,  227,  230 
Hodgson,  Adam,  219. 
Hollyman,  Ezekiel,  81 
Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell,  52,  53 
Honor    System,    the,    in    William 

and  Mary  College,  294 
Hospitality:    at    Montpelier,    Vir 
ginia,  299 

at  Oak  Hill,  Virginia,  303 
at  Red  Hill,  Virginia,  306 
at  Mount  Airy,  Virginia,  315 
at  Monticello,  325 
at  The  Hermitage,  353 
at  Ashland,  Kentucky,  357 
at    the    Schuyler    Mansion,    Al 
bany,  New  York,  394 
Hough,  Atherton,  50 
House  of  Seven  Gables,  41 
Houses:     Paul    Revere's,    Boston, 

Massachusetts,  23 
Elmwood,     Cambridge,     Massa 
chusetts,  36 

Crai.srie  House,  Cambridge,  Mas 
sachusetts,  40,  403 
Adams  House,  Cambridge,  Mas 
sachusetts,  44 

Qtiincy    Mansion,    Quincy,   Mas 
sachusetts,  49 

Fernside  Farm,  Haverhill,  Mas 
sachusetts,  54 

Duston    Garrison    House,    Hav 
erhill,  Massachusetts,  56 


INDEX 


415 


The  Old  Manse,  Concord,  Mas 
sachusetts,  61 

The  Wayside,  Concord,  Massa 
chusetts,  61 

Royall  House,  Medford,  Massa 
chusetts,  66 

Bennet-Boardman,  Saugus,  Mas 
sachusetts,  69 

Broadhearth,  Saugus,  Massa 
chusetts,  69 

Jeremiah  Lee  House,  Marble- 
head,  Massachusetts,  72 

Morris-Jumel  House,  New  York 
City,  87 

Philipse  Manor,  Yonkers,  New 
York,  91,  105 

The  Grange,  New  York  City, 
100 

Van  Cortlandt,  New  York  City, 
105 

Hasbrouck,  Newburgh,  New 
York,  106 

Franklin  Palace,  Perth  Amboy, 
New  Jersey,  115 

Ford  Mansion,  Morristown,  New 
Jersey,  126 

Campfield,  Morristown,  New 
Jersey,  126 

Morven,  the  Mercer  House  and 
Washington's  Headquarters 
at  Rocky  Hill,  New  Jersey, 
134 

Letitia  Penn,  Philadephia, 
145 

Pennsbury  Manor,  Pennsyl 
vania,  147 

Cliveden,  Germantown,  Pennsyl 
vania,  156 

David  Rittenhouse,  Philadel 
phia,  170 

Isaac  Potts,  at  Valley  Forge, 
Pennsylvania,  175 

Pennypacker's  Mills,  Pennsyl 
vania,  178 

Dawesfield,    Pennsylvania,    178 

Sweetbrier,  Philadelphia,   183 

Mill  Grove,  Pennsylvania,   187 

Fatlands,  Pennsylvania,   187 

Waynesborough,  Paoli,  Pennsyl 
vania,  192 

Amstel,  New  Castle,  Delaware, 
205 

George  Read's,  New  Castle,  Dela 
ware,  207 


Ridgely,  Dover,  Delaware,  208 
Doughoregan  Manor,  Maryland, 

216 

Upton   Scott,  Annapolis,   Mary 
land,  220 
White  House,  Washington,  230, 

236 
Octagon,  Washington,  231,  234, 

236,   317 

Mt.  Airy,  Virginia,  234,  314 
Mt.  Vernon,  Virginia,  241 
Arlington,  Virginia,  246 
Mary  Washington's,  Fredericks- 
burg,  Virginia,  251 
Pine  Grove,  Virginia,  253 
Kenmore,  Virginia,  253 
Greenway,  Virginia,  257 
Sherwood  Forest,  Virginia,  257 
Nelson,      Yorktown,      Virginia, 

270 

Moore    House,    Yorktown,    Vir 
ginia,  270 
John      Marshall's,      Richmond, 

Virginia,  274 

Sabine  Hall,   Virginia,  278 
Westover,  Virginia,  278 
Shirley,   Virginia,   280 
Carter's  Grove,  Virginia,  280 
Brandon,   Virginia,   281 
Gunston  Hall,  Virginia,  281 
Montpelier,  Virginia,   296 
Shadwell,  Virginia,  297,  322 
Oak  Hill,  Virginia,  301 
Red  Hill,  Virginia,  305 
Monticello,    Virginia,    322 
Rebecca      Motte's,      Charleston, 

South  Carolina,  336 
Pringle  House,  Charleston,  336 
Hermitage,     Nashville,     Tennes 
see,  351 
Ashland,    Lexington,    Kentucky, 

355 
Whitley's     Station,     Kentucky, 

359 

White    Haven,    St.    Louis,    Mis 
souri,   362 

"  Hardscrabble,"  St.  Louis,  Mis 
souri,  363 
Abraham   Lincoln's,   Springfield, 

Illinois,  369 
Harrison     Mansion,     Vincennes, 

Indiana,  374 

Rufus    Putnam's    House,    Mari 
etta,  Ohio,  377 


416 


INDEX 


Monument    Place,    Elm    Grove, 

West  Virginia,    381 
Schuyler  Mansion,  Albany,  New 

York,  391 
Wentworth  House,  Portsmouth, 

New  Hampshire,  395 
Warner      House,      Portsmouth, 

New  Hampshire,  399 
Longfellow      House,      Portland, 

Maine,  400 
Houston,  Sam,   347 
Hovey,  Dr.  H.  C.,  77 
Howe,  Lord,  95,  192 
Huguenot      Church,      Charleston, 

South  Carolina,  335 
Hull,  Hannah,  50 
Hutchinson,  Ann,  50 

Independence  Bell,  169,  199 
Independence,  The  Declaration  of, 

20 
Independence    Hall,    Philadelphia, 

151,  162 
Independent     Church,     Savannah, 

Georgia,    340 
Indians,  attacked  by  the,  58,  361, 

382 
Institute  of  American  Architects, 

238 

Jackson,  Andrew,  233,  347,  351 
James     River     Canal     Company, 

285 

Jamestown,  Virginia,   288 
Jay,  John,  98 
Jefferson,   Thomas,   170,   173,  260, 

272,   294,  297,  299,   301,   322, 

326 
Jeremiah  Lee  House,  Marblehead, 

Massachusetts,   72 
John  Marshall's  House,  Richmond, 

Virginia,  274 
Johns,  Kensey,  206 
Johnson,   Nicholas,   78 
Journal    and    General   Advertiser, 

New  York,  95 

Journal,   Springfield,   Illinois,   372 
Jumel-Burr,  Madam,  90 
Jumel,  Stephen,  90 

Kasimir,  Fort,  Delaware,  203 
Kenmore,  Virginia,   253 
Kent,  Chancellor,  103 


Kentucke  Gazette,  355 
Key,  Francis  Scott,  222 
Kidd,  Captain,  92 
King,    Washington    asked    to    be 
come,  108 

King's  Chapel,  Boston,  32 
Kingston,  New  York,  226 
Knyphausen,  General,  138,  194 

Lafayette,  Marquis  de,  107,  193, 
199,  256,  296,  299,  304,  346, 
353,  381 

Latrobe,  Benjamin  Henry,  227 

Leader,   Richard,   69 

Lee,  Jeremiah,  72 

Lee,  Richard  Henry,  124,  244 

Lee,  Robert  E.,  246,  280,  287 

"Lehigh,  House  on  the,"  197 

Letitia  Penn  House,  Philadelphia, 
145 

Lexington,  battle  of,  78,  166 

Lexington,  Massachusetts,  26,  27, 
73 

Liberator,  The,  22 

Liberty  Bell,  169,  199 

Lidgett,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  67 

Lightning,  ship,  333 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  230,  233,  369, 
371,  372 

Little  Pilgrim,  The  newspaper, 
o4 

Livingston,  Robert  R.,  98 

Logan,  James,  148 

Longfellow,  Henry  Wadsworth,  40, 
396,  400 

Longfellow,  Mrs.  Henry  Wads- 
worth,  41 

Lossing,   Benson   J.,    152 

Lottery  for  church  building  pur 
poses,  159 

Louisiana,  191 

Louisiana  Purchase,   294 

Louisiana  transferred  to  the 
United  States,  344 

Lowell,  General  Charles  Russell, 
38 

Lowell,  James  Jackson,  38 

Lowell,  James  Russell,  36,  37 

Lowell,  Maria,  38 

Lowell,  Rev.  Charles,  37 

Lowly  office  after  the  Presidency, 
261 

Loyalists'  houses  confiscated,  89 

Lunt,  Ezra,  78 


INDEX 


417 


Maddox,  Rev.  Robert,  212 
Madison,     James,     37,    223,     236, 

296 

Makemie,  Frances,  212 
Mantonomi,    81 

Marblehead,  Massachusetts,  72 
Marietta,  Ohio,  377 
Marion,  General,  337 
Marriages:     Mary     Philipse     and 
Roger  Morris,  93 

Rev.  William  Tennent  and  Mrs. 
Noble,   123 

Alexander  Hamilton  and  Eliza 
beth  Schuyler,  129 

William  Penn  and  Guli   Sprin- 
gett,  145 

William  Penn  and  Hannah  Cal- 
lowhill,  147 

William     Aubrey     and     Letitia 
Penn,  148 

John  James  Audubon  and  Mary 
Bakewell,  190 

Kensey    Johns    and    Anne    Van 
Dyke,  206 

Charles  J.  Du  Pont  and  Dorcas 
M.  Van  Dyke,  208 

Upton  Scott  and  Elizabeth  Ross, 
221 

Robert  E.  Le"e  and  Miss  Custis, 
247 

Augustine       Washington       and 
Mary  Ball,  252 

John     Rolfe     and     Pocahontas, 
266 

John   Tyler   and   Letitia   Chris 
tian,  260 

Thomas       Nelson       and       Lucy 
Grymes,  270 

James    Madison    and    Dorothy 
Todd,  298 

James  Madison  and  Eliza  Kort- 
wright,  301 

George  Washington  and  Martha 
Custis,  321 

Thomas    Jefferson    and    Martha 
Skelton,  322 

Jacob  Motte  and  Rebecca  Brew- 
ton,  336 

Woodrow  Wilson  and  Ellen  Ax- 
son,  343 

Henry  Clay  and  Lavinia  Hart, 
355 

Ulysses    S.    Grant    and    Julia 
Dent,  362 


Abraham     Lincoln     and     Mary 

Todd,  370 
Moses      Shepherd      and      Lydia 

Boggs,  383 
Philip    Schuyler   and    Catherine 

Van  Rensselaer,  393 
Alexander  Hamilton  and  Eliza 
beth  Schuyler,  393 
Governor   Wentworth  and  Mar 
tha  Hilton,   397 
Michael    Wentworth    and    Mrs. 
Martha  Wentworth,  399 

Marshall,  Chief  Justice,   169,  274, 
294 

Martineau,  Harriet,  299,  356 

Mary,   ship,   245 

Mary    Washington    House,    Fred- 
ericksburg,  Virginia,  251 

Mason  and  Dixon  line,  171 

Mason,    George,    281,    312 

Mason,  Lowell,  342 

Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  28 

Massacre,  Boston,   19,  31 

Massasoit,  80 

Mather,  Cotton,  58 

Mather,   Increase,   32 

Mayflower,  Putnam's  barge  on  the 
Ohio,  379 

McColloch's  leap,  382 

McKinley,    William,    346 

Meade,  Bishop,  276,  319 

Medford,  Massachusetts,  27,  66 

Mercer,  General,  135 

Mercer  House,  Princeton,  New  Jer 
sey,  134 

Mercury,  New  York,  87 

Mill     Grove,     near     Philadelphia, 
187 

Monmouth,  battle  of,   123 

Monroe,  James,  232,  294,  301,  342 

Montgomery,  General,  97 

Monticello,  Virginia,  322 

Montpelier,  Virginia,  296 

Monument  Place,  Elm  Grove,  West 
Virginia,  381 

Monumental     Church,     Richmond, 
Virginia,  277,  294 

Moore  House,  Yorktown,  Virginia, 
270,  274 

Moravian       Church,       Bethlehem, 
Pennsylvania,  196 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  98,  103 

Morris-Jumel    House,    New    York 
City,  87,  94 


418 


INDEX 


Morris,  Robert,  184 

Morris,    Roger,    87,    93 

Morven,    Princeton,    New    Jersey, 

134 

"Mosses  from  an  Old  Manse,"  63 
Mount  Airy,  Virginia,  234,  314 
Mount  Vernon,  Virginia,  109,  241 
Munitions,   Revolutionary,   173 

Nantes,  Edict  of,   28 

Nassau      Hall,      Princeton,      New 

Jersey,  130 

National    Intelligencer)    Washing 
ton,  236 

National  Pike,  384 
Nelson     House,     Yorktown,     Vir 
ginia,  270 

Nelson,  Thomas,  270 
Newark,  New  Jersey,  130 
Newburyport,    Massachusetts,    55, 

75 

New  Castle,  Delaware,  145,  203 
New  England  Antiquities,  Society 

for  the  Preservation  of,  71 
New  Orleans,  battle  of,  346 
Newspapers:    Liberator,  22 
Essex   Gazette,   25 
Boston  News  Letter,  28 
Boston  Gazette,  30 
Little  Pilgrim,  The,  54 
New  York  Mercury,  87 
New  York  Daily  Advertiser,  87 
New  York  Gazette,  95,  99 
New  York  Journal  and  General 

Advertiser,  95 

Philadelphia  Pennsylvania  Pack 
et,  97 
Pennsylvania      Evening      Post, 

155,  173 

Pennsylvania   Gazette,    164 
Daily       American      Advertiser, 

Philadelphia,  196 
National     Intelligencer,     Wash 
ington,   227,   236 
Gazette  of  the  United  States,  256 
Williamsburg   Gazette,   262 
American    Standard,    Richmond, 

Virginia,  295 
San  Antonio  Herald,  348 
KentucJce  Gazette,  355 
Springfield  Journal,   372 
Portland  Gazette,  402 
Nicola,     Lewis,     tries     to     tempt 
Washington,  108 


Norriton,  Pennsylvania,  170 
Norriton      Presbyterian      Church, 

172 

North  Church,  Boston,  27 
Northwestern    Territory,    274 
Nova  Scotia,  Franklin's  land  spec 
ulation    in,    117 
Noyes,  Alfred,  136 

Oak  Hill,  Virginia,  301 

Octagon  House,  Washington,  231, 
234,  236,  317 

Oglethorpe,  General  James  E., 
341 

Ohio   Company,  the,  378 

Ohio  River,    floating  down  the,  190 

Old  Manse,  the,  Concord,  Massa 
chusetts,  61 

Old  Pine  Street  Church,  Philadel 
phia,  159 

Old  North  Church,  Boston,  32 

Old  South  Church,  20,  24,  31, 
32 

Old  South  Church,  Newburyport, 
Massachusetts,  75 

Old  State  House,  Boston,  19 

Old  Tennent  Church,  Freehold, 
New  Jersey,  122 

Oliver,  Thomas,  36 

Ordway,  Alfred  A.,  56 

O'Reilly,  Count  Alejandro,   343 

Orin,  Azor,  73 

"Oven,  The,"  temporary  Capitol, 
227 

Paoli  Massacre,  181,  194 
Parsons,  Dr.  Jonathan,  78 
Patriot  who   destroyed   their  own 

houses:   Thomas  Nelson,  271; 

Rebecca  Motte,  339 
Pauling,  John,   178 
Paul      Revere's      House,      Boston, 

Massachusetts,  23 
Peabody,  Sophia,   62 
Peace,  signing  of,  in  1783,  110 
Peale,  Charles  Wilson,  133,  154 
Penn,  Letitia,  146 
Penn,  Thomas  and  Richard,  153 
Penn,  William,  145,  162,  204 
Pennsbury    Manor,    Pennsylvania, 

147 
Pennsylvania   Evening   Post,    155, 

173 
Pennsylvania  Gazette,  164 


INDEX 


419 


Pennsylvania  Packet,  Philadel 
phia,  97 

Pennypacker,  Samuel  W.,  171 
Penobscot  expedition,  28 
Persecution,     religious,     in     New 

York,    213 

Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  294 
Philadelphia,   evacuation   of,    177 
Philadelphia,    Paul    Revere    rides 

to,  25 

Philipsburgh,  Manor  of,  92 
Philipse,  Colonel   Frederick,  92 
Philipse,  Frederick,  91 
Philipse    Manor    House,    Yonkers, 

New  York,  91 
Philipse,  Mary,  93 
Pine  Grove,  Virginia,  253 
Pine-tree  shillings,  dowry  of,  50 
Plum  pudding,  the  best  dinner,  260 
Plymouth,  New  Hampshire,  66 
Pohick  Church,  Virginia,  249,  311 
Portsmouth,   New  Hampshire,   26, 

395 

Potomac  Canal,  218,  285 
Prayer  at  opening  of  First  Conti 
nental  Congress,  151 
Prayer     for    the    King,    omitted, 

154 
President's    pew:     in    St.    Paul's 

Chapel,  New  York,  96 
in  St.  Peter's,  Philadelphia,  154 
in  Pohick  Church,  Virginia,  312 
Princeton,  battle  of,  133,  135 
Princeton  University,  130 
Pringle  House,   Charleston,  South 

Carolina,  336 

Providence,  Rhode  Island,  82 
Putnam,  William  Lowell,  38 
"  Put  Watts  into  them,  boys,"  140 

Quincy,  Dorothy,  52 

Quincy,  Edmund,  49,  51 

Quincy,  Edmund,  III,  51 

Quincy,  Josiah,  53 

Quincy,   Judith,   50 

Quincy  Mansion,  Quincy,  Massa 
chusetts,  49 

Quincy,  Massachusetts,  44 

Quincy,  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  47 

Randolph,   Edmund,   269,   294 
Randolph,  John,  228 
Read,  George,  205 


Red  Bank,  New  Jersey,  victory  at, 
181 

Redemptioners,  purchase  of,  186 

Red  Hill,  Virginia,  305 

Revere,  Paul,  23,  33,  53,  77 

Rhode  Island,  83 

Ridgely,  Dr.  Charles  Greenburg, 
209 

Rittenhouse,  David,  198 

Rittenhouse  House,  Philadelphia, 
170 

Rochefoucauld-Liancourt,  Due  de 
la,  325 

Rodney,  Caesar,  208,  209 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  233,  290 

Ross,  George,  204 

Royall  House,  Medford,  Massa 
chusetts,  66 

Royall,  Isaac,  67 

Royall,  William,  67 

Rufus  Putnam's  House,  Marietta, 
Ohio,  377 

Rush,  Dr.  Benjamin,   163,  171 

St.     John's     Church,     Richmond, 

Virginia,  264,  266 
St.     Luke's     Church,     Smithfield, 

Virginia,  318 
St.   Martins-in-the-Fields,   London, 

82 
St.   Michael's  Church,  Charleston, 

South  Carolina,   333 
St.     Peter's     Church,    New    Kent 

County,  Virginia,  318 
St.   Peter's   Church,   Philadelphia, 

153 
St.    Philip's    Church,    Charleston, 

South  Carolina,  335,  340 
Salem,  Massachusetts,  80 
Savannah,   Georgia,   Siege  of,   341 
Schools,    free,    beginnings    of,    in 

Pennsylvania,  186 
Schuyler,  Catherine,  393 
Schuyler,  Elizabeth,  100,  127 
Schuyler,     General     Philip,      100, 

126 
Schuyler    Mansion,    Albany,    New 

York,  391 

Scott     House,     Annapolis,     Mary 
land,  220 
Scott,  Molly,  382 
Scott,  Upton,  220 
Servants,    problem    of,    in    early 

days,   185 


420 


INDEX 


Severance,  Frank  H.,  386 
Sewell,  Judge  Samuel,  50,  74 
Shadwell,  Virginia,  297,  322 
Sharpe,  Horatio,  221 
Shepherd,  Moses,  381 
Bherwood  Forest,  Virginia,  257,  261 
Shippen,  Dr.  William,  Jr.,  162 
Ships:     Dartmouth,  24 

Somerset,  27 

Welcome,    145 

John  and  Sarah,  146 

Surprise,  223 

Mary,  245 

Constitution      and       Guerriere, 
Cyano    and    Levant,    317 

Lightning,  333 
Shirley,  Virginia,  280 
Signers     of     the     Declaration     of 
Independence :    John    Wither- 
spoon,  132 

Benjamin  Rush,  162 

George  Ross,  204 

George  Read,  205 

Charles    Carroll    of    Carrollton, 
216 

Thomas  Nelson,  270 

George  Wythe,  290 

Richard  Lightfoot  Lee,  314 
Skippack,  Pennsylvania,  180 
Smith,  Abigail,  46 
Smith,  Rev.  William,  46 
"Snow-Bound,"  55 
Society    for    the    Preservation    of 

Virginia  Antiquities,  277 
Somerset,  ship,  27 
Sons  of  the  Revolution,  99 
Springett,  Guli,  145 
Springfield,  battle  of,  141 
Springfield    Meeting   House,    New 

Jersey,  138 

Stamp  Act,  30,  46,  218 
Star-Spangled    Banner,    story    of 

the,  222 

Stark,  General  John,  68 
Stark,  Molly,  68 
State  House   Clock,   Philadelphia, 

172 
State    House    Yard,    Philadelphia, 

163 

Steuben,  Baron,  176. 
Stevens,  Colonel  William,  211 
Stockton,  Mrs.  Richard,  134 
Stone   Church,   Elm   Grove,   West 
Virginia,  386 


Stony  Point,  New  York,  195 
Stuart,  Gilbert,  218 
Stuyvesant,   Petrus,    204 
Sullivan,  General,  43 
Susquehanna,  Falls  of  the,  226 
Sweetbrier,  Philadelphia,  183 
Swett,  Martha,  74 
Symmes,  Rev.  Frank  R.,   123 

Taney,  Chief  Justice  R.  R.,  222 
Tayloe,  John,  232,  234,  314 
Tea  meetings,  31 
Tecumseh,  Indian  chief,  375 
Tennent,  Rev.  John,  123 

Rev.  William,  123 
Texas,  Republic  of,  350 
Thames,  battle  of  the,  360 
Theatre    fire    in    Richmond,    Vir 
ginia,  294 

Thomson,  George,  208 
Thornton,  Dr.  William,  226,  234 
Ticonderoga,  193 
Tilghman,  Tench,  127,  392 
Tillinghast,  Pardon,  81 
Treaty  of  1783,  133 
Trenton,  battle  of,  135 
Tudor,   John,    19 
Tyler,  Henry,  290 
Tyler,  Judge  John,  257,  258,  294 

United  States  archives,  removed 
to  new  Capitol  at  Washing 
ton,  227 

University  of  Virginia,  the,  326 

Valley  Forge,   Pennsylvania,   174, 

182,   189,   195,  218 
Vanarsdal,  Rev.  Jacob,  141 
Van  Buren,  Martin,  232 
Van  Cortlandt,  Jacobus,  105 
Van  Cortlandt  Park,  104 
Van  der  Donck,  Jonkheer  Adriaen, 

91,  105 

Van  Dyke,  Henry,  215 
Van  Dyke,  Nicholas,  205 
Vane,  Sir  Harry,  50 
Vassall,  John,  41 
Vassall,  Leonard,  48 
Venus,  transit  of,   171 
Vincennes,  Indiana,  374 

Waldo,  Albigence,  182 

Walker,  Rachel,  23 

Wallace  Nutting  Corporation,   70 


INDEX 


421 


Walter,  Thomas  U.,  229 

Ward,  Samuel,  42 

Warner  House,  Portsmouth,  New 
Hampshire,  399 

Warren,  General,  26 

Washington  and  Lee  University, 
248 

Washington,  burning  of,  in  1814, 
184,  228,  231,  235,  317 

Washington  College,  Lexington, 
Virginia,  285 

Washington,  George,  21,  31,  40, 
72,  88,  93,  95,  96,  98,  99,  105, 
108,  110,  124,  133,  137,  139, 
157,  173,  174,  178,  189,  192, 
194,  206,  218,  226,  234,  241, 
246,  252,  256,  272,  281,  283, 
285,  290,  294,  305,  308,  311, 
315,  316,  321,  374,  377,  378 

Washington,  Laurence,  241,  253 

Washington,  Mrs.  George,  42,  127, 
177,  245 

Wayne,  Captain  Isaac,  192 

Wayne,  General  Anthony,  107, 
157,  192 

Wayne  sborough,  near  Philadel 
phia,  192 

Wayside,  The,  Concord,  Massa 
chusetts,  61 

Weare,  Meschech,  108 

Webster,  Daniel,  384 

Weems,  Parson,  313 

Wentworth,  Governor  Benning, 
395 

Wentworth  House,  Portsmouth, 
New  Hampshire,  395 

West  Church,  Boston,  37 

Westover,  Virginia,  278 


West    Point    Military    Academy, 

100,  106,  362 

Wheelwright,  Rev.  John,  50 
Whitefield,  Rev.  George,  75 
White  Haven,  St.  Louis,  Missouri, 

362 
White    House,    Washington,    230, 

236 

Whitemarsh,  Pennsylvania,  181 
Whitley's  Station,  Kentucky,  359 
Whittier,  John  G.,  54,  79 
Whittier,  Thomas,  54 
Wilkinson,    General,    158 
William  and  Mary  College,  Will- 

iamsburg,  Virginia,  259,  289, 

291 

Wrilliamsburg    Court   House,   Vir 
ginia,  262 

Williamsburg,  Virginia,  289 
Williams,  Roger,  80 
Wilson,  Daniel  Munro,  44,  47 
Winthrop,  Governor,  34,  66 
Wirt,   William,   describes   Patrick 

Henry's    first    public    speech, 

264 

Wither  spoon,  John,  132 
Wolfe,  Colonel  James,  220 
Women's      Centennial      Executive 

Committee,   339 
Wren,  James,  249 
Wren,  Sir  Christopher,  82,  292 
Wythe,  George,  290 

Yonkers,  New  York,  88,  91 
York,  Pennsylvania,   174 
Yorktown,  Siege  of,  271,  279 

Zinzendorf,  Count,  197 


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